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LIBRARY 


AMERICAN 

LUMBERMEN 


AMERICAN 

LUMBEEMEN 


I      f    .    •  •    •       t  « 


>  > 

1      >      * 


•  •  •  > 


THE  PERSONAL  HISTORY 
AND  PUBLIC  AND  BUSINESS  ACHIEVEMENTS 

OF 

ONE  HUNDRED  EMINENT  LUMBERMEN 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


THIRD   SERIES 


CHICAGO: 

THE  AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN 

1906 


**• 


COPYRIGHT,    igo6,   BY 

THE  AMERICAN   LUMBERMAN, 

CHICAGO 


OR  more  than  a  century  the  manu- 
facture of  lumber  was  the  fore- 
most industry  of  America.  Until 
the  last  decade  it  employed  more 
men  and  capital  and  produced 
more  wealth  than  any  other  pursuit.  The  de- 
velopment of  this  industry  and  the  achievement 
of  this  distinction  required  the  energy  of  men  of 
brain  and  brawn  and  the  direction  of  men  of  ex- 
ceptional ability  and  courage. 

Life  histories  of  some  of  the  men,  living  and 
dead,  whose  initiative  and  executive  abihty, 
whose  prophetic  vision  and  practical  wisdom, 
made  them  and  their  calling  great,  are  assembled 
in  this  volume.  These  are  the  biographies  either 
of  pioneers  or  of  the  successors  of  pioneers,  of 
men  of  yesterday  or  men  of  today.  Many  of  them 
are  still  young  and  have  a  future  to  account  for; 
but  all  have  proved  their  worth.  Some  won  ad- 
ditional distinction  in  other  walks  of  life,  public 
or  private,  and  thus  contributed  not  only  to  the 


403443 


history  of  the  lumber  industry,  but  also  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  nation. 

These  are  biographies  of  men  who  recognized 
and  utilized  opportunity.  Some  of  these  men 
were  pioneers  in  settlement  and  development; 
many  were  the  sons  of  fathers  who  helped  to  clear 
the  land  for  settlement.  They  breathed  the 
breath  of  the  forest  and  learned  its  secrets  and 
possibilities. 

The  face  of  history  is  turned  ever  toward  the 
West,  and  so  the  lumber  industry  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada  has  followed  the  pathway  of 
the  sun.  One  time  the  sash  saw  tugged  slowly  at 
the  eastern  fringe  of  a  forest  that  seemed  impene- 
trable and  inexhaustible  ;  now  the  mammoth  mill 
mingles  its  song  with  the  music  of  the  surf  roll- 
ing in  from  the  Pacific. 

In  this  westward  march  each  progressive  step 
has  brought  forth  the  pioneer;  and,  as  the  indus- 
try has  moved  onward,  there  have  appeared  the 
men  able  to  maintain,  direct  and  preserve  to  the 


nation  the  stream  of  wealth  set  flowing  by  the  ax 
of  the  first  woodsman. 

It  was  inherent  abihty  and  not  wealth  that 
made  these  lumbermen  worthy  of  this  recogni- 
tion. As  one  reads  the  history  of  their  lives  he  finds 
that  most  of  them  at  the  outset  of  their  careers 
were  of  little  means  and  sometimes  of  limited 
education;  but  while  mints  make  money  and 
books  make  learning,  God  makes  men. 

This  volume  will  be  found  a  record  of  man- 
making  rather  than  money-making  or  scholar- 
making.  Herein  will  be  found  men  of  strong 
constitution,  of  mental  and  physical  endurance, 
of  steadiness  under  adversity,  of  energy,  ambi- 
tion and  determination.  What  men  are,  rather 
than  what  they  do,  is  vital.  Theirs  was  and  is  a 
great  industry;  but  greater  than  the  forests  they 
conquered  and  better  than  the  wealth  they 
earned  is  the  good  they  contributed  to  our 
national  life. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Acuff,  William  Henry 21 

Amorous,  Martin  Ford 405 

Anson,  Leonard  Niles 149 

Badger,  Alpheus  Shreve 401 

Barnes,  Charles  1 321 

Beal,  Wood 225 

Bloomer,  Andrew  Fletcher 361 

Bolinger,  Sanford  Henry 277 

Bonds,  Clifford  Arthur 249 

Bonner,  Benjamin  Franklin 293 

Booth,  Robert  A 57 

Bradley,  Charles  Henry 129 

Bradley,  Thomas  Pringle 133 

Burns,  John  Edmund 197 

Camp,  Herbert  Asbury 253 

Carpenter,  Eugene  Joseph 137 

Christy,  Henry  Clay 317 

Clark,  Uriel  Lee 121 

Clarke,  Hovey  Charles > 141 

Connor,  Robert 1^7 

Connor,  William  D 1^3 

Davidson,  Lynch 289 

Day,  David  Henry 345 

Dodge,  Edmond  Fairfield 397 

Embree,  John  William 193 

Enochs,  Isaac  Columbus 245 

Fischer,  Ferdinand  Carl 393 

Foster,  Thomas  Sampson - 281 

Friant,  Thomas 221 

Frost,  Edwin  Ambrose 273 

Fullerton,  Robert 93 

Fullerton,  Samuel  Holmes 89 

Gilbert,  Willis  H 201 

Goepel,  Frank  Herman 101 

0 


lo  CONTENTS 

Page 

Goodyear,  Charles  Adams 181 

Griggs,  Chauncey  Wright 13 

Grover,  Myron  Hubert 29 

Harker,  John 341 

Harrell,  Edward  Hogan 297 

Hill,  Arthur 213 

Hinton,  John  Hammond 257 

Hinton,  Robert  Wood 261 

Inman,  Robert  David 45 

Jackson,  Jacob  Green 65 

Jackson,  William  Humphreys 389 

Jennings,  Curtis  Morrison 105 

Joyce,  David 165 

Joyce,  William  Thomas 169 

Kaul,  John  Lanzel 265 

Keith,  Charles  Smith 77 

Landeck,  Gustave  John 161 

Lane,  John  Lewis 305 

Leadbetter,  Frederick  William 53 

Leadbetter,   Lorenzo 217 

Lewis,  Byron  Ruthven 25 

Linehan,  James  C 241 

Linehan,  Joseph  J 237 

Litchfield,  William  Elias 329 

Luehrmann,  Charles  Frederich 113 

Luehrmann,  George  Ernest  William 117 

Mauk,  Clinton  Alvah 325 

McCormick,  Harry 41 

McEwen,  Daniel  H 69 

Millard,  Clifford  Isaac 97 

Moberly ,  Edward  Everett 189 

Moore,  Thomas  Anthony 365 

Munroe,  Thomas 385 

Nalty,  John  Bernard 369 

Neimeyer,  Andrew  Johnson 109 

Nicola,  William  Wright 233 

Norris,  William  Henry 285 


CONTENTS  1 1 

Page 

Paepcke,  Herman 177 

Patten,  Charles  Edward 37 

Pickering,  William  Alfred 85 

Pickering,  William  Russell 81 

Pittock,  Henry  L 49 

Poison,  Alexander 33 

Radford,  Charles  William 377 

Radford,  William  Addison 381 

Ramsay,  William  Edmund 269 

Ramsey,  Arthur  Clark 125 

Roberts,  Edward  Lazarus 173 

Rumbarger,  John  Jacob 349 

Schultz,  William  Ward 185 

Shimer,  Samuel  Johnston 229 

Smith,  William  Emerson 309 

Sondheimer,  Maxwell 313 

Stange,  August  H 145 

Stillwell,  William  B 409 

Stimson,  Jacob  VanSickle 373 

Thrane,  Victor 205 

True,  George  Ivers 333 

Vansant,  Rufus  Humphrey 301 

Wadley,  William  Daniel 73 

Wendling,  George  Xavier 61 

Wheeler  William  Carleton 17 

White,  William  H 209 

Whiting,  Frank  Raymond 353 

Whiting,  William  Scott 357 

Wiley,  Elbert  Milton 337 


No  If*? 


of 


Although  the  scene  v 
result  of  the  energy  ot  * 
movements,  industrial  a 
stand  head  and  shouldt 
peaks  tower  above  the  r 
ing  out  prominently  in   i; 
Northwest  is  to  be  mer 
Tacoma,  Washington. 

His  birthplace  was  1 
the  Willimantic  River.     \ 

i    here,    F 


Tolla 
many  yr 
and  her 
traced  t 
of  K-ing  .  . 
Having 
in  1848,  at 
where  he  tic 
went  home  ana 
of  Massachusetts 


s,  at 

indu 
sncey  \^ 

necticut,  o 
en  the  fa 
31,    1832. 
ere  amon^; 
uncey  Gr 
r^e  of  thr 
iature 


c 


eOOHRO     XHOIFINA/     Y30MUAH0 


OHAUNOEIY     WRIGHX    GRIOGS 


Chauncey  W.  Griggs 


No  lettered  monument  could  better  proclaim  a  man's 
achievements  than  the  voices  of  those  great,  bustling  beehives 
of  industry,  the  sawmills.  All  through  the  vast  territory  form- 
ing the  northwestern  part  of  the  United  States  are  to  be  heard 
these  whirring  voices  of  the  saws,  testifying  to  the  enterprise 
of  the  men  to  whom  the  country  is  indebted  for  the  wonderful 
development  of  the  mighty  natural  resources  of  that  section. 
Although  the  scene  which  western  Washington  presents  is  the 
result  of  the  energy  of  many,  yet  in  this  development,  as  in  all 
movements,  industrial  and  otherwise,  there  are  a  few  men  who 
stand  head  and  shoulders  above  others,  as  a  few  mountain 
peaks  tower  above  the  rest  of  the  range.  Among  those  stand- 
ing out  prominently  in  the  lumber  industry  of  the  Pacific 
Northwest  is  to  be  mentioned  Chauncey  Wright  Griggs,  of 
Tacoma,  Washington. 

His  birthplace  was  Tolland,  Connecticut,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Willimantic  River.  Here  has  been  the  family  seat  for  four 
generations,  and  here,  December  31,  1832,  Chauncey  W. 
Griggs  was  born.  His  ancestors  were  among  the  early  settlers 
in  America,  and  his  father,  Chauncey  Griggs,  was  a  cap- 
tain in  the  War  of  18 12,  was  judge  of  the  probate  court  at 
Tolland  and  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut  for 
many  years.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Heartie  Dimock, 
and  her  ancestors,  also,  were  early  settlers  in  the  colonies  and 
traced  their  descent  from  the  Dimocks  of  England,  of  the  time 
of  King  Henry  I. 

Having  received  a  common  school  education,  young  Griggs, 
in  1848,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  went  to  Birmingham,  Ohio, 
where  he  clerked  in  a  store.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he 
went  home  and  finished  his  education  at  the  Monson  Academy 
of  Massachusetts.     He  then  taught  school,  and  in  1851  went 

13 


14  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

to  Detroit,  where,  for  a  time,  he  worked  in  a  bank.  Then  he 
moved  to  Akron,  Ohio,  in  1853,  to  engage  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  The  next  year  he  engaged  in  the 
merchandise  business  in  Iowa,  and  again  in  Detroit,  where  he 
became  interested  in  the  furniture  business  with  his  brother. 
Going  to  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  in  1856,  he  operated  a  supply 
store  and  speculated  in  real  estate.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War,  in  1861,  in  conjunction  with  other  influential  men 
in  the  community  he  organized  a  regiment  and  Mr.  Griggs 
was  mustered  in  as  captain  of  Company  B,  of  the  Third  Min- 
nesota Infantry.  After  a  few  months  spent  in  pushing  supplies 
through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  Captain  Griggs  was  pro- 
moted for  gallantry  to  the  rank  of  major  and  later  of  lieutenant- 
colonel.  He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  and 
it  is  recorded  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Griggs  and  two  company 
commanders  were  the  only  ones  to  protest  against  the  surren- 
der of  the  command.  The  officers  spent  three  months  in  a 
Confederate  prison  before  being  exchanged,  and,  upon  his  re- 
lease, Lieutenant-Colonel  Griggs  was  made  colonel.  He 
reorganized  the  regiment  and  in  1863  again  went  to  the  front. 
At  Columbus,  Kentucky,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  his 
brigade,  and  he  saw  service  at  Forts  Henry  and  Hindman. 
Later  he  fought  at  Vicksburg. 

He  resigned  from  the  army,  broken  in  health,  to  build  up 
his  shattered  business.  He  located  at  Chaska,  Minnesota, 
where  he  engaged  in  brick-making,  contracting  and  railroad 
building.  In  1869  he  returned  to  St.  Paul  and,  in  company 
with  J.  J.  Hill,  now  president  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway 
Company,  organized  the  firm  of  Hill,  Griggs  &  Co.,  which 
carried  on  a  fuel  and  transportation  business.  In  1875  Colonel 
Griggs  formed  a  partnership  with  R.  W.  Johnson  and  later 
with  United  States  Senator  A.  G.  Foster.  This  concern  en- 
gaged in  the  transportation  and  selling  of  fuel  and  was  the  first 
to  take  coal  to  St.  Paul.  Later,  Colonel  Griggs  organized  and 
operated  the  Lehigh  Coal  &  Iron  Company.  He  also  formed 
the  firm  of  Griggs,  Cooper  &  Co.,  a  wholesale  grocery  house 


CHAUNCEY  W.  GRIGGS  15 

at  St.  Paul.  In  1887  Colonel  Griggs  closed  out  his  St.  Paul 
coal  and  iron  business  and  went  to  Tacoma,  Washington,  and, 
with  A.  G.  Foster,  who  was  later  United  States  senator  from 
Washington,  Henry  Hewitt,  Junior,  Charles  H.  Jones  and 
others,  formed  the  St.  Paul  &  Tacoma  Lumber  Company. 

In  the  following  year  80,000  acres  and  later  20,000  addi- 
tional acres  of  timber  lands  were  secured  in  Pierce  County,  at 
the  base  of  Mount  Tacoma.  A  modern  mill  was  built  at  Ta- 
coma with  a  daily  capacity  of  between  350,000  and  400,000  feet. 
Excellent  missionary  work  was  done  in  making  known  the  good 
qualities  of  fir,  and  the  wood  was  introduced  into  the  eastern 
markets.  The  growth  of  the  company's  volume  of  business  was 
so  rapid  that  another  mill  was  soon  built  at  Tacoma.  This  mill 
was  substantially  constructed  and  was  so  arranged  that  cedar 
products  could  be  worked  to  the  best  advantage.  The  plant  has 
a  daily  capacity  of  200,000  feet  of  lumber  and  500,000  shingles 
and  gives  the  company  an  output  of  150,000,000  feet  a  year. 
The  company  has  developed  an  export  as  well  as  an  eastern 
business,  and  has  4,000  feet  of  water  frontage  as  part  of  its 
facilities  for  water  shipments.  The  St.  Paul  &  Tacoma  Lum- 
ber Company  has  the  distinction  of  having  furnished  the  largest 
steamer  cargo  ever  loaded  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  having  placed 
3,500,000  feet  of  lumber  on  the  United  States  transport  Dix  for 
the  United  States  government  in  the  Philippines.  The  com- 
pany does  its  own  logging  and  has  about  forty  miles  of  railway 
in  operation. 

In  addition  to  the  lumber  business  the  St.  Paul  &  Tacoma 
Lumber  Company  does  a  large  coal  mining  business  under  the 
name  of  the  Wilkinson  Coal  Company.  Nearly  all  of  the  land 
of  the  lumber  company  is  underlaid  with  coal  of  a  fine  quality. 
The  mines  in  Pierce  County,  Washington,  thirty  miles  east  of 
Tacoma,  have  an  output  of  more  than  6,000  tons  a  day. 

The  Chehalis  &  Pacific  Land  Company  is  another  of  Colonel 
Griggs'  organizations,  owning  13,000  acres  of  valuable  timber 
land  in  the  Grays  Harbor  district.  He  is  the  principal  owner 
in  the  Beaver  Dam  Lumber  Company,  of  Cumberland,  Wis- 


i6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

consin;  is  a  director  of  the  First  and  Second  National  banks, 
of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota;  president  of  the  Fidelity  Trust  Com- 
pany, of  Tacoma;  president  of  the  Settlement  Company,  an 
organization  to  close  the  affairs  of  defunct  banks;  president  of 
the  Dry  Dock  &  Foundry  Company,  of  Tacoma,  and  president 
of  the  Pacific  Meat  Company.  He  has  large  holdings  in  real 
estate  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  and  is  a  large  investor  in 
lands  in  the  Dakotas,  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin.  He  operates 
a  line  of  lumber  yards  in  Washington  and  California  and  a 
wholesale  yard  in  Los  Angeles. 

Colonel  Griggs  married  Miss  Martha  Ann  Gallup,  a  native 
of  Ledyard,  Connecticut,  who  comes  of  an  old  New  England 
family,  in  April,  1859.  She  is  a  woman  of  fine  qualities  and  has 
been  active  in  church  and  charitable  work.  They  have  a 
family  of  six  children— Chauncey  Milton,  vice  president  and 
manager  of  Griggs,  Cooper  &  Co.,  St.  Paul;  Herbert  Stanton, 
a  member  of  the  Washington  bar;  Heartie  Dimock;  Everett 
Gallup;  Theodore  Wright,  and  Anna  Billings  Griggs. 

In  politics  Colonel  Griggs  is  a  Democrat;  he  was  twice  a 
member  of  the  Minnesota  House  of  Representatives,  three 
times  a  senator,  and  alderman  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul  seven 
times.  He  was  a  Democratic  candidate  for  United  States 
senator  from  Washington  in  1889  and  1893. 


OT3-JF^ 


\A/ll_l_IAM     CARL-ETON     NA/ H  E  E  l_  E  R 


William  C.  Wheeler 


No  greater  barrier  to  the  world's  commercial  progress 
exists  than  the  disinclination  of  people  in  every  walk  of  life  to 
depart  from  a  long  established  custom,  or  to  exploit  a  new 
idea  in  any  line.  Business  men  are  loath  to  take  hold  of  an 
innovation,  even  though  the  substitute  offered  be  more 
desirable  than  that  which  it  is  to  supplant.  This  difficulty 
confronted  the  manufacturers  of  Pacific  Coast  products  and 
for  years  hindered  the  development  of  the  lumber  industry 
of  that  section.  One  of  the  men  who  encountered  and  con- 
quered this  prejudice  against  a  new  product  was  William 
Carleton  Wheeler,  of  Tacoma,  Washington,  when  he  entered 
the  Lewis  and  Clark  country. 

He  began  his  career  in  the  older  settled  East,  continued  it 
in  the  newer  sections  of  the  middle  West  and  became  a  pioneer 
in  the  manufacture  of  millwork  in  the  far  West.  His  father, 
Loring  Wheeler,  was  a  prominent  man  of  affairs  in  and  about 
Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  being  engaged  in  manufacturing 
and  in  farming  on  a  large  scale.  His  mother  was  Evaline 
(Bruce)  Wheeler,  who  came  of  a  distinguished  colonial  family. 
It  was  in  West  Fitchburg  that  William  C.  Wheeler  was  born, 
July  13,  1841.  He  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  to  this 
fact  much  of  the  sturdiness  of  his  character  and  his  self-reliance 
undoubtedly  is  due. 

His  first  active  service  after  completing  his  education  and 
attaining  his  majority  was  rendered  in  behalf  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  twenty-one  years  old  when,  on  October  17, 
1862,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  A,  Fifty-third 
Massachusetts  Volunteers.  He  went  with  his  regiment  by 
water  to  New  Orleans  and  thence  up  the  river  to  take  part  in 
the  battles  on  the  lower  Mississippi.  At  the  siege  of  Fort 
Hudson   his  regiment  constituted   part  of   the  command   of 


17 


i8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

General  Payne,  of  Wisconsin.  The  Fifty-third  Massachu- 
setts command  was  one  of  four  regiments  assigned  to  make 
an  early  morning  attack.  In  the  charge  General  Payne  was 
wounded  and  lay  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  After  two 
men  had  been  killed  and  two  wounded  in  an  attempt  to  move 
the  general  from  his  exposed  position,  four  volunteers  were 
called  for  to  rescue  the  injured  commander,  but  only  two 
responded,  one  of  these  being  William  C.  Wheeler.  It  was 
more  than  a  daring  deed — it  was  a  noble  one.  The  young 
soldier  continued  to  serve  with  honor  during  his  term  of 
enlistment,  and,  on  being  mustered  out  of  service,  he  became 
a  captain  in  the  Massachusetts  National  Guard. 

His  actual  business  career  began  in  Holyoke,  Massachu- 
setts, after  he  had  returned  from  the  war  in  1863,  when  he 
secured  the  position  of  bookkeeper  for  E.  Chase  &  Sons,  a 
large  lumber  concern.  He  spent  two  and  one-half  years  in 
the  office  of  the  firm,  and  then  resigned  to  become  paymaster 
for  the  Hampden  Paper  Company.  Failing  health  and  the 
rigors  of  the  New  England  climate  prompted  him  to  seek 
health  and  wealth  in  the  great  and  growing  West;  so,  in  1868, 
he  moved  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  where,  with  W.  W.  Carr  and 
W.  H.  Austin,  he  began  the  manufacture  of  sash  and  doors, 
and  for  twenty  years  took  an  active  part  in  building  up  for  the 
firm  a  reputation  for  business  ability  and  integrity.  The  busi- 
ness, started  on  a  small  scale,  rapidly  gained  large  proportions 
through  the  energetic  and  capable  methods  of  manufacture 
and  distribution  which  were  followed.  In  1880  N.  C.  Ryder 
was  admitted  to  partnership  and  the  firm  name  was  changed 
to  Carr,  Ryder  &  Wheeler.  It  became  one  of  the  principal 
sash  and  door  concerns  of  the  country,  the  entire  middle 
West  being  the  scene  of  its  operations.  The  firm  is  now 
known  as  Carr,  Ryder  &  Adams. 

Again  his  failing  health  bore  an  important  part  in  directing 
Mr.  Wheeler's  career.  Although  he  had  enjoyed  better 
health  during  his  sojourn  in  Iowa,  he  believed  that  he  would 
be  better  off  in  the  milder  climate  of  the  Pacific  Coast.     On 


WILLIAM  C.  WHEELER  19 

January  i,  1889,  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  firm  of  Carr, 
Ryder  &  Wheeler  at  Dubuque,  and  in  April  went  to  Tacoma, 
Washington,  where  he  soon  began  the  organization  of  his 
present  extensive  undertakings.  At  that  comparatively  early 
period  the  conditions  in  Washington  and  Oregon  were 
peculiar,  the  mills  then  operating  having  but  a  local  and 
export  trade.  Mr.  Wheeler  observed  the  situation  care- 
fully and,  with  his  knowledge,  gained  by  long  experience, 
of  the  manufacture  of  millwork,  reached  the  conclusion  that 
a  similar  business  wherein  Washington  cedar  should  be 
employed  would  prove  a  profitable  investment.  He  laid 
his  plans  and  submitted  the  proposition  to  two  other  keen 
business  men  —  G.  R.  Osgood  and  D.  D.  Clarke.  They 
approved  of  the  project  of  establishing  a  factory,  and 
the  firm  of  Wheeler,  Osgood  &  Co.  was  formed,  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  supplying  at  least  part  of  the  Pacific 
Northwest  with  doors,  sash  and  millwork  manufactured  on  the 
ground.  Previous  to  this  date  such  doors  as  had  been  manu- 
factured were  of  green  lumber  and  the  work  was  not  done 
in  a  first-class  way.  The  firm's  first  large  shipment  to  the  East 
by  rail  was  in  1893,  ^^  Portland,  Maine;  a  most  notable  ship- 
ment from  the  fact  that  the  first  factory-made  doors  used  on 
Puget  Sound  were  shipped  during  the  '40's  from  that  place 
by  sailing  vessels. 

The  original  sash  and  door  factory  was  of  modest  dimen- 
sions, designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  single  community.  Its 
supply  of  lumber  was  limited  to  occasional  carloads  of  stock 
bought  from  small  mills.  From  50  to  150  doors  a  day  were 
turned  out  for  several  years  until  the  growing  demands  led  to 
an  increase  in  the  facilities  of  the  plant.  With  the  growth  of 
the  business  timber  was  bought  and  a  sawmill  and  a  shingle 
mill  were  built  at  Everett,  where  shingles  and  cedar  lumber 
for  factory  purposes  were  turned  out  and  the  product  loaded 
on  scows  and  taken  up  the  Sound  for  the  Tacoma  factory. 
Branch  offices  were  established  in  New  York  and  Boston, 
and  salesmen  were  placed  in  selected  territory. 


20  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Fire  destroyed  the  sash  and  door  factory  in  Tacoma  on 
September  25,  1902,  the  plant  then  being  the  largest  of  its 
kind  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  The  loss  was  between 
$100,000  and  $125,000,  covered  by  insurance.  Immediately 
the  work  of  rebuilding  the  factory  was  started,  the  necessary 
machinery  being  ordered  by  wire.  The  factory  destroyed  had 
a  capacity  of  600  doors  daily,  while  the  new  plant  was  equipped 
to  turn  out  1,200  doors  a  day,  with  a  window  frame  depart- 
ment to  match  the  door  output.  The  concern  has  the  most 
complete  and  modern  equipment  throughout  and  operates  a 
sawmill  at  the  Tacoma  plant.  The  yard  has  a  piling  capacity 
of  6,000,000  feet  of  lumber,  the  entire  plant  covering  about 
fifteen  acres. 

The  firm  of  Wheeler,  Osgood  &  Co.  was  incorporated  as 
The  Wheeler,  Osgood  Company  on  July  3,  1903,  the  capital 
being  increased  from  $125,000  to  $250,000.  Mr.  Wheeler 
became  president;  T.  E.  Ripley,  vice  president;  George  J. 
Osgood,  secretary,  and  George  B.  Osgood,  treasurer. 

Mr.  Wheeler  married  Miss  Sarah  E.  Couch,  of  Holyoke, 
Massachusetts,  March  29,  1865.  Of  this  union  have  been 
born  four  children,  three  of  whom  survive— Alvin  Sawyer 
Wheeler,  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  North 
Carohna;  Edgar  Couch  Wheeler,  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Rockland,  Massachusetts,  and  William  Chamber- 
lain Wheeler,  who  is  associated  with  his  father  in  The  Wheeler, 
Osgood  Company. 

Early  in  his  residence  Mr.  Wheeler  was  recognized  as  one 
of  Tacoma's  most  progressive  and  public -spirited  citizens. 
Whatever  makes  for  the  good  of  the  community  appeals  to 
Mr.  Wheeler  and  enlists  his  sympathies.  He  takes  an  active 
interest  in  church  and  educational  matters.  He  has  served  as 
president  of  the  Associated  Charities  and  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  besides  having  held  other  positions  of  honor 
and  trust  in  the  community. 


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\^II_I_IAM      HENRY     ACUFF 


William  H.  Acuff 


During  the  last  decade  only  has  the  territory  known  as  the 
"Inland  Empire"  come  to  the  front  as  a  lumber  producing 
section,  and,  in  fact,  the  greater  part  of  the  development  of 
this  section  has  taken  place  within  the  last  decade.  Yet  the 
men  who  have  aided  in  this  upbuilding  are  as  truly  pioneers  as 
those  who  preceded  civilization  into  the  forests  of  the  North 
and  Northwest.  One  of  these  pioneers  is  William  Henry 
Acuff,  of  Spokane,  Washington. 

He  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  in 
Gwynedd,  an  historic  village  about  twenty-five  miles  north- 
west of  Philadelphia,  October  8,  1846.  His  father  was  William 
Acuff.  The  old  stone  house  in  which  he  was  born  was  known 
far  and  wide  in  colonial  days  as  the  "AcufT  Inn,"  and  had 
been  in  the  possession  of  the  Acuff  family  for  nearly  200  years. 
The  AcufTs  came  to  this  country  in  the  early  part  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  and  were  of  Scotch-Welsh  descent. 
One  of  Mr.  Acufl's  great-grandfathers  was  General  Sheats, 
who  acquired  fame  in  the  War  of  1812.  Mr.  Acuff's  mother 
was  a  Quaker,  her  name  being  Lydia  Ellis,  and  she  was  of 
Welsh  descent.  His  father  died  when  he  was  about  five 
months  old,  and  several  years  later  his  mother  married  Comly 
Lukens,  a  member  of  one  of  the  old  German  families  that 
dwelt  in  Pennsylvania  long  before  the  Revolutionary  War. 

In  1858  Mr.  Acuff  went  to  Decatur,  Illinois,  whither  his 
parents  had  moved  the  preceding  year.  He  remained  there 
until  1863,  when  he  returned  to  Pennsylvania,  going  to  Nor- 
ristown,  where  he  attended  school.  He  spent  some  time  at 
Titusville,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  oil  region,  working  about  oil 
wells,  and  was  for  one  year  a  deputy  tax  collector.  He  earned 
money  enough  to  carry  him  through  the  high  school  at  Nor- 
ristown,  from   which    he   graduated    in    1866,  returning  and 

21 


22  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

graduating  in  another  course  the  following  year.  Going  to 
Decatur,  where  his  parents  resided,  he  taught  school  for  a 
year  or  so,  and  in  1870  went  into  the  flour  milling  business 
with  his  stepfather ;  but  their  plant  was  destroyed  by  fire  the 
following  year  and  they  lost  everything  they  had. 

For  the  next  few  years  Mr.  AcuflP  was  engaged  in  various 
ways.  A  part  of  the  time  he  managed  a  large  farm  and  bought 
grain  for  an  eastern  concern  and  also  taught  school.  He  had 
charge  of  the  books  in  the  office  of  a  wholesale  hardware  and 
leather  concern  for  five  years.  This  work,  because  of  its  con- 
fining nature,  did  not  agree  with  his  health,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  find  an  occupation  in  which  he  could  be  more  out  of  doors. 
With  this  object,  he  began  the  manufacture  of  force  pumps 
in  1878,  at  Decatur,  Illinois,  forming  the  Niagara  Pump  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  was  the  manager.  Associated  with  him  in 
this  enterprise  were  James  Wiswell  and  Justus  Lukens.  While 
engaged  in  this  business  he  did  considerable  mill  work  for 
several  lumber  concerns  that  had  yards  adjacent  to  his  factory, 
and  in  this  way  unpremeditatedly  entered  the  lumber  business. 
In  1885  the  Niagara  Pump  Company  was  merged  into  the 
Niagara  Manufacturing  Company,  and  two  years  later  the 
manufacturing  concern  was  consolidated  with  one  of  the 
lumber  companies,  forming  the  Decatur  Lumber  &  Manu- 
facturing Company.  A  factory  was  built  and  sash,  doors  and 
millwork  were  manufactured  on  a  large  scale.  Mr.  AcufT  was 
secretary  of  this  company,  but  in  June,  1889,  he  disposed  of 
his  interest  and  in  the  following  April  went  to  Spokane  and 
spent  nearly  two  years  looking  for  opportunities  in  which  to 
invest,  though  without  engaging  in  any  business  during  this 
period. 

In  1892  the  Washington  Mill  Company  was  organized  by 
Mr.  Acuf?,  J.  C.  Barline,  J.  W.  Cook,  W.  H.  Short  and 
Edward  Crawford.  Later,  other  stockholders  bought  the 
interests  of  Messrs.  Short  and  Crawford,  and  George  Barline 
and  J.  C.  Neflfeler,  a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Acuf?,  were  taken 
into  the  concern.     The  company  engaged  in  the  manufacture 


WILLIAM  H.  ACUFF  23 

of  sash,  doors  and  interior  finish,  starting  in  a  small  factory 
with  a  capital  of  $25,000,  and  did  a  business  the  first  year  of 
$50,000.  The  capital  stock  of  the  concern  later  was  increased 
to  $340,000,  and  during  1903  the  company  did  more  than 
$700,000  worth  of  business.  The  company  has  an  additional 
plant  in  another  section  of  the  city,  where  it  makes  a  specialty 
of  getting  out  door  stock  for  eastern  shipment,  and  does  a 
general  wholesale  business  in  pine  lumber  for  the  eastern 
factory  trade. 

During  the  twelve  years  of  its  existence  the  Washington 
Mill  Company  has  gradually  been  acquiring  timber  until  it 
owns  about  25,000  acres  of  pine  land  and  is  steadily  adding  to 
its  holdings.  The  company  owns  four  sawmills,  one  at  West- 
branch, Washington ;  another  three  miles  from  Elk,  Washing- 
ton; another  five  miles  from  Colville,  Washington,  and  the 
fourth  at  Rodgers  Spur,  in  Idaho.  In  addition  to  the  output 
of  its  own  mills  the  company  buys  lumber  extensively,  at  times 
taking  the  cut  of  as  many  as  sixteen  mills.  For  the  last  four 
years  the  company  has  not  cut  any  of  its  own  timber,  its  policy 
being  to  hold  it  while  the  price  is  low. 

Mr.  AcuflF  married,  in  1871,  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  Miss 
Isabelle  Bricker,  who  died  in  1896.  They  had  two  daughters, 
one  dying  in  infancy,  the  other  being  the  wife  of  J.  C.  Nef- 
feler.     It  is  with  this  daughter  that  Mr.  Acuff  makes  his  home. 

In  all  matters  where  public  interests  are  at  stake,  either  in 
the  lumber  business  or  in  affairs  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of 
the  State,  Mr.  AcufI  usually  is  to  be  found  on  the  committees 
that  have  the  most  work  to  do.  He  has  always  taken  a  great 
deal  of  interest  in  matters  affecting  the  prosperity  of  the 
lumber  industry,  believing  strongly  in  association  work,  and 
has  been  an  officer  of  the  different  lumber  organizations  in 
that  section.  He  has  been  an  active  worker  in  the  Western 
Pine  Shippers'  Association  and  has  served  for  several  years  as 
vice  president  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Lumber  Manufacturers' 
Association.  He  is  a  man  of  original  ideas,  quiet  and  unos- 
tentatious in  both  public  and  private  affairs  and  of  a  disposi- 


24  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tion  that  labors  to  do  away  with  factional  differences  and  petty 
discord  in  association  work.  In  the  work  of  committees  con- 
cerned with  public  business  he  is  to  be  found  always  on  the 
side  of  fair  dealing  and  justice.  He  is  looked  upon  by  lumber- 
men as  one  of  their  most  representative  men  and  by  business 
men  in  general  as  being  just  and  honorable. 

While  belonging  to  no  local  church  organization  and 
retaining  his  allegiance  to  the  Quaker  Church,  in  which  he 
was  brought  up,  Mr.  Acuff  is  an  attendant  at  various  churches 
and  has  aided  many  of  them  in  their  work.  He  served  as 
chairman  of  the  citizens'  committee  of  eighty  in  charge  of  the 
erection  of  a  $100,000  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
building  for  Spokane.  He  also  was  a  member  of  the  building 
committee  appointed  to  supervise  the  construction  of  a  new 
$80,000  Masonic  temple  in  Spokane. 

Mr.  Acuff  has  always  taken  an  active  interest  in  Masonic 
affairs,  being  a  member  of  all  the  Masonic  bodies  in  both  the 
York  and  Scottish  Rite  branches  at  Spokane,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  El  Katif  Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  besides 
being  a  past  officer  in  all  of  the  York  bodies,  and,  in  1905,  was 
at  the  head  of  the  Oriental  Consistory,  No.  3,  at  Spokane.  In 
1904  he  was  honored  by  being  named  an  honorary  thirty-third 
degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason.  He  is  a  stanch  Republican 
and  a  believer  in  good  government;  he  served  his  adopted 
city  as  an  alderman  for  four  years  and  was  honored  by  a  nom- 
ination for  mayor  by  those  seeking  purer  municipal  govern- 
ment. 

Real  estate  in  Spokane  has  been  invested  in  by  Mr.  Acuff 
to  some  extent  and  he  is  an  owner  of  an  orange  grove  at 
Riverside,  California,  where  his  parents  and  two  half-sisters 
reside. 


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Whatever  he  possesses  today  is  the  rt 
severance  and  industriousness.     As  a  me^- 
of  circumstances  he  began  work  at 
Michigan.     His  course  since  r*    - 


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8IW3-J     M3VHTUFI     MOFtVO 


BYRON     RUTHVEN     LEWIS 


Byron  R.  Lewis 


In  the  extreme  northwestern  county  of  Idaho,  one  of  the 
younger  sisterhood  of  states,  a  territory  of  mountains,  lakes, 
waterways  and  forests,  has  come  into  being,  in  the  existing 
generation,  a  district  famed  in  the  lumber  industry  for  the  ex- 
cellence of  its  timber.  It  is  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district,  in 
Kootenai  County,  which  takes  the  name  "awl  heart"  or  "small 
heart"  applied  by  French  voyageurs,  on  account  of  the  stinginess 
of  a  chief,  to  the  tribe  of  Indians  originally  inhabiting  the 
country.  Nature  lavished  a  wealth  of  forests  on  that  section, 
and,  in  recent  years,  it  has  come  to  be  exploited  by  men  of 
character  and  of  experience,  a  representative  manufacturer 
of  the  district  being  Byron  R.  Lewis,  of  Spokane,  Washington. 

Whatever  he  possesses  today  is  the  result  of  his  own  per- 
severance and  industriousness.  As  a  mere  youth,  through  force 
of  circumstances  he  began  work  at  a  lumbering  operation  in 
Michigan.  His  course  since  then  has  been  one  of  advance- 
ment without  interruption.  From  a  humble  employee  he  be- 
came successively  a  cruiser,  timber  owner  and  contract  logger. 
Later,  he  dealt  in  timber  lands,  established  a  line  of  retail  yards, 
conducting  a  most  successful  business  along  that  plane  and  re- 
tiring from  it  only  to  organize  and  carry  on  a  manufacturing 
operation  at  Cceur  d'Alene. 

Byron  Ruthven  Lewis  was  born  at  Ischua,  Cattaraugus 
County,  New  York,  September  28,  1864,  and  comes  of  dis- 
tinguished ancestry.  His  father,  E.  R.  Lewis,  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  Union  army  during  the  war  of  1861-5,  who  went  to  the 
Empire  State,  at  the  close  of  hostilities,  to  practice  his  profes- 
sion. The  mother  of  Mr.  Lewis  was  a  direct  descendant  of 
the  Clayton  family,  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  of  the  Clanahan  family 
that  settled  along  the  James  River  and  was  prominent  in  the 
Old  Dominion  State  during  the  Revolutionary  period.     It  was 

25 


26  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Colonel  Clanahan,  a  member  of  this  family,  who  drove  back 
the  British  troops  after  they  had  captured  and  destroyed  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  B.  R.  Lewis  was  an  infant  in  arms 
when  his  parents  left  Ischua  to  take  up  their  home  at  Caseville, 
on  Saginaw  Bay,  Huron  County,  Michigan,  where  his  father 
engaged  in  logging.  Subsequently,  the  home  was  moved  to 
Saginaw  and  in  that  center  of  lumber  activity  young  Lewis  had 
what  little  schooling  was  his. 

He  was  barely  in  his  teens  when  he  set  about  making  his 
own  living  in  the  world.  Without  a  trade,  and  devoid  of  edu- 
cation sufficient  to  enable  him  to  enter  an  office  as  a  clerk,  he 
found  employment  in  a  sawmill.  He  continued  laboring  in 
sawmills,  planing  mills  and  the  woods  in  the  Saginaw  and  Au- 
sable  districts  until  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  when  he 
secured  a  position  in  a  hardware  and  farm  implement  establish- 
ment. For  four  years  he  handled  hardware  and  agricultural 
tools,  the  last  year  spent  in  this  line  of  business  being  put  in 
traveling  through  the  farming  country  for  his  employers.  At 
twenty-one  years  of  age  he  had  developed  into  a  progressive 
man  with  the  ideas  and  experience  of  one  many  years  his 
senior.  It  was  his  liking  for  the  lumber  industry  and  for  the 
life  of  the  woods  that  led  him  to  give  up  traveling  and  go  to 
Grand  Rapids,  Itasca  County,  Minnesota,  in  1887,  where  he 
began  cruising  timber  for  various  lumbermen,  and  he  secured 
in  this  manner  a  small  holding  of  timber  for  himself. 

In  1888  he  began  logging  the  tract  he  had  secured  in  the 
preceding  year.  Later,  he  contracted  to  do  logging  for  some 
of  the  large  lumber  concerns.  He  was  shrewd,  had  executive 
ability  and  was  successful  in  making  money  on  his  contracts 
from  the  start.  By  1891  he  had  accumulated  enough  capital  to 
permit  of  his  engaging  in  the  handling  of  timber  lands.  This 
business  he  conducted  from  Minneapolis,  in  which  city  he 
made  his  home.  Another  chapter  in  his  busy  career  was  in- 
augurated in  1896,  when  he  organized  the  B.  R.  Lewis  Lumber 
Company,  capitalized  at  $50,000,  to  conduct  retail  yards, 
though  he  did  not  relinquish  his  timber  land  enterprise.     Mr. 


BYRON  R.  LEWIS 


27 


Lewis  became  president  and  manager  of  the  corporation,  which 
established  a  chain  of  yards  in  western  Minnesota  and  South 
Dakota  along  the  Minneapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  and  the 
Hastings  and  Dakota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St. 
Paul  Railway.  The  capital  of  the  company  was  subsequently 
increased  to  $100,000  and  the  number  of  yards  ultimately 
controlled  was  fifteen. 

Mr.  Lewis  first  turned  his  attention  toward  the  timber 
resources  of  the  West  in  1902,  when  he  investigated  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  Idaho  country.  In  the  following  year  the  yards 
of  the  B.  R.  Lewis  Lumber  Company  were  disposed  of  and 
Mr.  Lewis  went  to  Spokane,  Washington,  where  he  since  has 
made  his  home.  The  capital  of  the  company  bearing  his  name 
was  increased  in  1903  to  $250,000,  so  as  to  provide  means  for 
the  buying  of  large  tracts  of  timber  for  the  projected  opera- 
tions. With  another  increase  in  the  capitalization  to  $800,000 
a  mill  site  was  purchased  at  Coeur  d'Alene,  across  the  river 
from  the  old  Fort  Sherman  grounds,  upon  which  a  modern 
plant  was  constructed. 

The  plant,  which  began  sawing  in  October,  1904,  is 
equipped  with  two  double  cutting  band  saws  and  a  gang  saw, 
cutting  400,000  feet  of  lumber  every  twenty  hours.  The  mill 
for  one  year  is  calculated  to  cut  about  65,000,000  feet  of  Idaho 
white  pine  lumber.  The  planing  mill  operated  at  Cceur 
d'Alene  is  one  of  the  best  equipped  in  the  West  and  has  nine- 
teen machines  in  service.  In  March,  1906,  the  capital  of  the 
company  was  again  increased,  this  time  to  $1,500,000.  The 
officers  of  the  corporation  are  B.  R.  Lewis,  president  and 
manager;  B.  P.  Munson,  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  vice 
president;  Earl  M.  Rogers,  of  Cceur  d'Alene,  secretary,  and 
E.  P.  Keefe,  of  Cceur  d'Alene,  treasurer.  Those  named 
comprise  the  board  of  directors.  The  company  has  title  to 
about  300,000,000  feet  of  pine  timber  and  is  rapidly  adding  to 
its  holdings. 

In  1905,  Mr.  Lewis  and  his  associates  incorporated  the 
Idaho  &  Northwestern  Railroad  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Lewis 


28  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

is  president  and  manager.  Eighteen  miles  of  the  main  line  of 
the  railroad  has  been  constructed,  besides  the  branches  ex- 
tending into  the  lumber  company's  timber.  The  logs  were 
loaded  on  the  railroad  cars  in  the  woods  and  brought,  for  some 
time,  only  as  far  as  Mica  Bay,  where  they  were  dumped  into 
Lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  The  dumping  point  was  four  miles  from 
the  mill,  and  the  railroad  was  later  extended  around  the  lake 
to  the  plant. 

One  of  Mr.  Lewis'  outside  interests  is  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  of  which  institution  he  was  the  founder. 
Shortly  after  going  West  he  established  the  bank,  which  has  a 
capital  of  $50,000,  and  he  is  one  of  its  largest  stockholders, 

Mr.  Lewis  has  a  beautiful  residence  in  Spokane  where 
reside  his  wife  and  five  children.  Mrs.  Lewis  before  her 
marriage,  which  occurred  February  6,  1891,  was  Miss  Ida 
Swanson,  of  Fargo,  North  Dakota.  The  children  of  the 
couple  are  Sydney,  Arthur,  Mildred,  Gertrude  and  Grace,  the 
oldest  being  thirteen  years  old  and  the  youngest  but  a  year  old. 

Mr.  Lewis  is  a  member  of  Plymouth  Lodge,  No.  160  A. 
F.  &  A.  M.;  Columbia  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.;  Zion  Commandery 
No.  2  and  Zurah  Temple  A.  A.  O.  N.  M.  S.,  all  of  Minnea- 
polis. He  is  a  member  of  Minneapolis  Lodge  No.  44,  B.  P.  O. 
Elks,  and  a  Hoo-Hoo. 


a  \  (.\  *  •-!  .11 


the  s 

former   caster" 
Grover,  of  S\ 
big  entdrpr'" 

He  i?  ■  "•'^'""-ntative  wholc- 

salir  ^  n  —  the    Day- 

'  uc   taken   as  an 

sacccssiiii  '  ^    "iness.     "^ 

c  manufactuiiiig  v^  inaustr- 

since  he  was  a  young  man,  n 


New 

John  Grover 

s,  who  settled  in  central  Conn 

g^  to  New  York  about  1830.     His  n 

rl  family  which  came  from 
Sc(  ^  *>4,  New  York.     They 


M 


YRON     HUBERT    GROVER 


Myron   H.   Grover 


The  progress  of  the  RepubHc  is  traced  in  the  migrations 
of  lumbermen  as  accurately  as  in  a  history  of  the  country.  A 
large  percentage  of  those  who  have  followed  the  industry 
were  born  or  began  their  lumber  career  in  the  East,  and  from 
there  they  went  West  to  the  then  new  lumber  regions  of 
Michigan,  Wisconsin  or  Minnesota.  Later,  they  continued 
their  migrations  westward  toward  the  forests  of  the  Pacific 
Coast.  In  the  Pacific  Northwest,  as  that  vast  territory  between 
the  summit  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  on  the  east  and  the 
mighty  Pacific  on  the  west  is  known,  dwell  and  labor  many 
former  eastern  lumbermen.  One  of  them  is  Myron  H. 
Grover,  of  Spokane,  Washington,  a  stalwart  in  that  land  of 
big  enterprises. 

He  is  vice  president  of  one  of  the  representative  whole- 
saling and  producing  concerns  of  that  region  —  the  Day- 
Luellwitz  Lumber  Company,  and  he  may  be  taken  as  an 
example  of  the  successful  man  in  the  lumber  business.  He 
has  followed  the  manufacturing  end  of  the  industry  almost 
uninterruptedly  since  he  was  a  young  man,  having  gained  his 
earliest  experience  at  Bay  City,  Michigan.  Subsequently,  he 
became  identified  with  Wisconsin  operations  and,  in  1903, 
assumed  charge  of  the  operations  of  the  Cascade  Lumber 
Company,  at  North  Yakima,  Washington,  only  to  move  to 
Spokane,  in  July,  1906. 

Myron  Hubert  Grover  was  born  March  12,  1863,  at  Ithaca, 
New  York,  the  son  of  Alva  H.  Grover  and  the  grandson  of 
John  Grover.  They  were  of  English  descent,  in  religion 
Calvinists,  who  settled  in  central  Connecticut,  Mr.  Grover's 
grandfather  moving  to  New  York  about  1830.  His  mother 
was  a  descendant  of  the  Townsend  family  which  came  from 
Scotland  and  settled  at  Saratoga  Springs,  New  York.     They 

29 


30  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

were  Scotch  Presbyterians  of  a  sturdy  type.  Myron  Grover 
was  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children.  His  people  were  farmers 
who  logged  the  timber  from  their  lands,  as  was  the  custom  in 
those  days,  and  sold  the  logs  to  small  sawmills.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Ithaca,  supplemented  by  a 
two  years'  course  in  the  academy  at  Gilbertsville,  New  York. 
He  had  in  view  a  course  at  Cornell  University,  but  when 
eighteen  years  old  he  left  his  studies  to  take  charge  of  a  dis- 
trict school  on  the  outskirts  of  his  native  city.  A  desire  to 
know  something  of  the  western  section  of  the  country  led  him, 
in  the  spring  of  1883,  to  go  to  Plankington,  in  what  was  then 
the  territory  of  Dakota,  where  he  became  associated  with  a 
former  Ithacan  in  the  real  estate  business. 

Dissatisfied  with  this  line  of  work,  Mr.  Grover  went  to 
Bay  City,  Michigan,  in  September,  1883,  to  enter  the  employ 
of  T.  H.  McGraw  &  Co.,  with  which  firm  he  remained  at 
Bay  City  and  Naubinway,  Michigan,  until  May,  1887.  His 
first  work  was  carrying  lumber  from  the  sorting  platform; 
within  a  few  months  he  became  assistant  in  the  shipping 
department.  On  leaving  the  firm  Mr.  Grover  was  out  of  the 
lumber  business  for  two  years,  during  which  time  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  construction  department  of  the  "  Soo  Line" 
through  northern  Michigan,  having  charge  of  the  commissary 
department  on  the  division  between  Manistique  and  Sault 
Ste.  Marie. 

In  June,  1889,  Mr.  Grover  went  to  Wausau,  Wisconsin,  to 
assume  charge  of  a  new  mill  built  by  C.  C.  Barker  and  H.  C. 
Stewart,  operating  as  Barker  &  Stewart,  but  shortly  afterward 
the  plant  was  destroyed  by  fire  and  was  not  rebuilt  at  that 
time.  In  the  same  year  Mr.  Barker  and  Jacob  Mortenson 
organized  the  Garth  Lumber  Company,  which  built  a  mill  at 
Garth,  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Grover  took  charge  of  that  plant  in 
1889,  remaining  with  the  company  until  all  its  timber  had 
been  cut  out,  in  1893.  The  company  then  transferred  the 
scene  of  its  operations  to  Garth,  Michigan,  in  the  Upper 
Peninsula,  where  a  large  mill  was  erected.     Mr.  Grover  was 


MYRON  H.  GROVER  31 

given  charge  of  the  operations  at  that  point,  continuing  until 
the  available  supply  of  timber  was  cut  out  and  operations  dis- 
continued in  July,  1902. 

Successful  in  a  managerial  capacity  in  the  north  pine 
country,  Mr.  Grover  essayed  a  wider  field  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  His  appearance  there  was  in  February,  1903,  when  he 
formed  a  connection  with  the  Cascade  Lumber  Company,  at 
North  Yakima,  Washington,  a  concern  which  had  been 
organized  the  preceding  year  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  that 
was  later  increased  to  $500,000.  The  men  interested  in  this 
enterprise  had  been  looking  for  an  experienced  man  who  was 
capable  of  completing  the  construction  of  the  plant,  which 
had  been  begun  in  1902,  and  in  Mr.  Grover  they  found  the 
man  who  filled  all  the  qualifications.  He  had  had  much 
experience  in  milling  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  and  had 
demonstrated  his  executive  abilities,  and  in  the  spring  of  1903 
he  had  the  mill  completed  and  sawing  lumber.  After  two 
years'  successful  operation  the  plant  was  shut  down  in  the  fall 
of  1905  to  permit  of  its  being  practically  rebuilt  and  the  making 
of  additions,  including  the  erection  of  a  large  sash  and  door 
factory  and  the  enlarging  of  the  box  factory  plant. 

In  July,  1906,  Mr.  Grover  severed  his  active  connection 
with  the  Cascade  Lumber  Company,  although  still  retaining 
his  interest  in  that  concern,  to  become  actively  associated  with 
Harry  L.  Day  and  Gus  Luellwitz  in  the  Day-Luellwitz  Lumber 
Company,  of  Spokane,  Washington,  manufacturer  and  whole- 
saler of  western  lumber.  Mr.  Grover  secured  a  large  block 
of  stock  of  the  company  in  which  he  is  now  interested.  He 
takes  an  active  part  in  the  management  of  the  Day-Luellwitz 
concern,  looking  particularly  after  the  outside  timber  and 
manufacturing  interests.  Mr.  Luellwitz,  the  founder  of  the 
business,  is  one  of  the  most  successful  lumbermen  on  the 
Coast.  On  the  reorganization  of  the  company's  affairs,  follow- 
ing the  acquirement  of  an  interest  in  the  business  by  Mr. 
Day  and  Mr.  Grover,  the  capital  was  increased  from  $50,000 
to  $200,000. 


32  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Those  interested  in  the  Day-Luellwitz  Lumber  Company 
are  also  heavy  stockholders  in  and  control  the  Newman  Lake 
Lumber  Company,  Moab,  Washington,  and  the  Athol  Lumber 
Company,  Athol,  Idaho,  manufacturing  concerns  whose  out- 
put of  pine  lumber  each  year  is  over  20,000,000  feet.  This  is 
marketed  by  the  Day-Luellwitz  Lumber  Company  and,  in 
addition,  it  stocks  several  small  mills  with  logs  and  markets 
the  output.  The  Day-Luellwitz  Lumber  Company  is  also  an 
extensive  wholesaler  of  fir  lumber,  maintaining  a  buying  office 
in  the  Lumber  Exchange  Building,  Seattle,  Washington. 

During  his  connection  as  general  manager  and  stockholder 
in  the  Cascade  Lumber  Company,  Mr.  Grover  became  vice  pres- 
ident of  the  North  Yakima  &  Valley  Railroad,  a  new  line  now 
partly  built  westward  through  the  Cascade  Mountains  to  the 
Puget  Sound  country  from  North  Yakima,  and  easterly  into 
the  farming  region  of  Washington.  He  was  also  chosen  vice 
president  of  the  Yakima  Savings  &  Loan  Company  and  a 
stockholder  and  director  in  the  Yakima  Trust  Company,  of 
North  Yakima.  He  still  retains  these  interests.  He  is  a 
worker  in  the  lumber  association  field,  being  vice  president 
of  the  Western  Pine  Manufacturers'  Association  and  a  member 
of  several  of  its  most  important  committees. 

Mr.  Grover  has  a  home  in  Spokane  presided  over  by  his 
wife,  who  was  Miss  Ella  W.  Furlong,  of  St.  Ignace,  Michi- 
gan. They  were  married  in  June,  1888,  and  have  one  child, 
a  boy,  Myron  H.  Grover,  Junior,  who  is  fifteen  years  old. 

Mr.  Grover  is  a  member  of  Escanaba  (Michigan)  Lodge, 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  also  of  the  chapter  and  commandery  at 
the  same  place.  He  is  a  Noble  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  belong- 
ing to  Ahmed  Temple,  Marquette,  Michigan.  He  is  a  Hoo- 
Hoo,  a  member  of  North  Yakima  Lodge,  B.  P.  O.  E.,  and 
holds  membership  in  the  Spokane  Club  of  Spokane. 


Alexander  Poison 


TX. 


^  difficulties,  t^ 


•ards  and  the  labor  attendant  upon 

tern  forests,  con- 


n. 

He  did  not  find  the 
ploy  ready  to  his  hand, 
was  he  given  the  where\ 
the  foundation  and  build 
In  this  he  differed  not  gre 
ner  and  measure  of 
reliance.     H" 

H 


d  m  the  business 
of  Hoi 


c  Ale 

Iv  manhnod  in  th^^ 


■  dUUlCU.    Hi    lliC 


freight 


inrcc 

Bccom. 
bet  of  tiic  n 

he  road  horseback   noin 
Valley,  in  the  then  Tcr- 
secured  empl^o^Q^^t^^Og^Mi^  samps,  and 

33 


AL-EXANDEIR     POLSON 


Alexander  Poison 


The  difficulties,  the  hazards  and  the  labor  attendant  upon 
dethroning  the  great  fir  monarchs  of  the  western  forests,  con- 
verting them  into  the  raw  material  of  the  sawmill,  and  trans- 
porting them  by  devious  ways  to  the  milling  centers  where  they 
are  manufactured  into  lumber,  are  exemplified  in  the  business 
life  and  accomplishments  of  Alexander  Poison,  of  Hoquiam, 
Washington. 

He  did  not  find  the  equipment  which  his  camps  now  em- 
ploy ready  to  his  hand,  nor  in  his  early  life  did  he  inherit  or 
was  he  given  the  wherewithal  to  purchase,  but  must  needs  lay 
the  foundation  and  build  the  structure  of  his  own  fortune. 
In  this  he  differed  not  greatly  from  others,  except  in  the  man- 
ner and  measure  of  his  achievements  and  in  his  sturdy  self- 
reliance.     His  has  been  a  life  of  activity  and  progressiveness. 

His  father,  Peter  Poison,  and  his  mother,  Cathrine  McLean, 
migrated  to  Nova  Scotia  from  Scotland.  It  was  in  Truro, 
Nova  Scotia,  in  May,  1853,  that  Alexander  Poison  was  born. 
He  spent  his  boyhood  and  early  manhood  in  that  city,  gaining 
his  education  there  and  remaining  until  he  was  twenty-three 
years  old.  The  desire  for  broader  opportunities  for  the  better- 
ment of  his  fortunes  caused  him  to  join  an  emigrant  train,  and 
with  it  he  crossed  the  western  plains  in  1876,  eventually  reach- 
ing Nevada.  In  that  wild,  half-settled  State  he  labored  in  the 
woods,  mines  and  on  cattle  ranches,  and  drove  heavy  freight 
teams  in  Nevada,  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  California  for 
three  years. 

Becoming  dissatisfied,  not  by  reason  of  the  hard  work,  but 
because  of  the  narrow  opportunities  ofifered,  in  the  fal!  of  1879 
he  road  horseback  from  Tucson,  Arizona,  to  the  Klickitat 
Valley,  in  the  then  Territory  of  Washington.  Ultimately  he 
secured  employment  in  the  logging  camps,  and  the  first  winter 

83 


34  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

he  spent  in  the  Territory  he  worked  in  the  woods  at  the  head 
of  the  Yakima  River,  where  was  gotten  out  the  first  lumber 
used  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  in  the  construction  of  its 
road  in  that  territory.  From  1880  to  1884  he  was  engaged  in 
building  dams  on  driving  streams  for  sluicing  out  logs,  in  felling 
timber  and  doing  other  woods  work.  In  1884  and  1885  he  was 
assessor  of  Chehalis  County.  His  first  logging  with  jack 
screws  was  carried  on  in  1886,  and  from  the  proceeds  of  this 
work  he  bought  a  team  of  oxen.  From  1886  to  1893  he  logged 
with  cattle,  and  it  might  be  said  that  up  to  this  time  he  had 
earned  his  bread  by  the  labor  of  his  hands  in  the  logging 
camps  of  the  Coast.  ' 

His  brain,  however,  was  not  idle  and  the  work  he  had  been 
doing  was  but  preparatory  to  the  establishment  of  the  business 
he  now  owns.  Mr.  Poison  had  saved  something  from  his 
wages  and  evolved,  during  the  years  of  his  arduous  labors, 
plans  which  he  subsequently  executed.  Logging  operations 
were  much  to  his  liking  and  in  the  work  he  showed  a  great 
aptitude,  learning  the  business  as  it  can  be  learned  only  by 
those  who  have  for  years  witnessed  its  operations  in  every  phase. 
In  1886  he  launched  his  own  commercial  craft  amid  indications 
that  were  not  any  too  promising  for  a  peaceable  voyage  or  an 
extended  one.  But  the  pilot  at  the  helm  knew  the  water  in 
which  his  craft  was  sailing,  knew  the  location  of  every  sunken 
rock,  the  weak  places  in  his  vessel  and  also  knew  how  to  avoid 
the  rocks  and  to  take  measures  to  prevent  or  overcome  the 
disablement  of  his  craft.  The  voyage  so  carefully  begun  has 
been  successful. 

The  concern  was  known  as  the  Poison  Bros.  Logging 
Company  until  April,  1903,  when  the  style  was  changed  to  the 
Poison  Logging  Company,  and  Robert  Poison,  Mr.  Poison's 
brother  and  first  lieutenant,  T.  D.  and  R.  D.  Merrill  and  Clark 
L.  Ring,  the  latter  three  of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  took  stock 
in  the  new  concern.  This  change  was  due  to  the  burning  of 
a  large  tract  of  timber  owned  by  the  Merrill  &  Ring  concern, 
which  necessitated    its    immediate    conversion   into  lumber. 


ALEXANDER  POLSON  35 

The  timber  adjoined  that  owned  by  the  Poison  Logging  Com- 
pany on  the  west  and  the  only  way  it  could  be  reached  handily 
was  by  the  Poison  railway  or  by  paralleling  that  line.  Practical 
economy  demanded  that  the  interests  be  merged  and  that  the 
timber  be  taken  out  on  the  one  line;  an  agreement  was  reached 
and  the  consolidation  effected. 

Following  Mr.  Poison's  connection  with  the  Merrill  & 
Ring  interests,  the  plant  of  the  Poison  Logging  Company 
was  increased  and  additional  timber  bought,  until,  in  1905, 
103,000,000  feet  was  cut  and  delivered  to  the  mills.  The  log- 
ging road  that  has  been  built  to  further  the  company's  opera- 
tions has  a  main  line  thirty  miles  long,  with  an  equipment  of 
thirty  logging  donkeys  and  seven  locomotives.  One  of  the 
locomotives  in  service  was  the  first  to  cross  the  Cascades  over 
the  Northern  Pacific  Hne  and  was  built  by  Porter  Bros.,  in 
1871.  The  nature  of  the  country  traversed  by  the  railroad  is 
mountainous,  but  the  road  has  been  pushed  past  the  dividing 
range,  beyond  which  lies  a  fertile  valley.  Its  settlement  has 
followed  the  extension  of  the  line  and  the  products  of  the  farms 
and  ranches  have  an  outlet  over  the  logging  road. 

Mr.  Poison's  success  stands  as  a  monument  to  his  own  labor, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  man  today  differs  greatly  from  the  young 
lad  who  went  West  to  seek  fortune  in  the  '70's.  Hardship  did 
not  sour  his  disposition,  nor  has  success  spoiled  the  man,  who, 
from  close  association  with  nature,  has  acquired  some  of  the 
sublime  simplicity  and  faith  of  his  teacher.  When  one  comes 
in  contact  with  Mr.  Poison  something  of  the  strength  and  of 
the  breath  of  the  forest  is  felt,  although  he  is  eminently  a 
practical  man,  to  which  his  success  testifies.  He  has  never  lost 
interest  in  the  work  being  carried  on  in  the  camps  and,  while  the 
details  are  in  charge  of  his  brother,  Robert  Poison,  he  has  a 
practical  and  working  knowledge  of  all  that  is  going  on.  To 
his  men,  of  whose  welfare  he  is  very  solicitious,  he  is  known  as 
''Alex,"  which  means  he  is  still  one  of  them.  The  camps  of 
the  company  provide  employment  for  from  fifty-five  to  seventy 
men  each,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  timber.     The  camp 


36  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

crews  are  divided  into  different  sets  or  gangs  of  men,  com- 
prising the  yarding  crew,  the  skid  road  crew,  the  filers  and  the 
sawing  crew.  The  work  of  each  supplements  the  work  done 
by  the  other  gangs  of  men. 

Ancestry  may  have  something  to  do  with  the  inherent 
qualities  that  assured  Mr.  Poison's  success.  His  forefathers 
moved  from  Sweden  to  Scotland  and  their  descendants  im- 
migrated to  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  was  born.  Directly  trace- 
able to  such  intermingling  with  the  people  of  various  countries 
are  many  of  Mr.  Poison's  strongest  traits. 

He  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all  forestry  matters  and  keeps  a 
close  watch  on  all  action  taken  by  the  Government  forest 
service.  The  company  of  which  he  is  president  affords  an 
excellent  field  for  the  practical  demonstration  of  the  utility  of 
reafforestation,  which,  in  his  opinion,  can  be  done  only  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Government. 

Mr.  Poison  married  Miss  Ella  Arnold,  a  daughter  of  F.  D. 
Arnold,  of  Adair,  Iowa,  February  i8,  1891.  Three  children 
have  come  into  the  home  of  the  couple — two  boys  now  ten 
and  twelve  years  old,  and  a  girl  of  eight  years. 

Mr.  Poison  is  a  Mason,  a  Knight  Templar,  a  member  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  also  a  Woodman. 


1 1 


■  ^^'  the  men  who 

CO  the  Pacific 

4  the  lu"^-' 

1  lie  iiicii  who  laiu  Lxic 

11   uu         :.   of    that  section    have 

mauoa  in  the  '    ^  *       ng 

id  to  have  i  to  this 

Edward  i..  .>i  Seattle, 

!;reat  i         "e  We  )g  been 

\pril  ;?o,  1 8^5,  hi$  ■  :s  being 

n  ana  bliza  (Radcliff )  Patten.     He  is  of  Scotch- 

Knglish  ancestry,  his  paternal                ther  '  ome  from 

southern  Scotland.     He  atten  id- 

uated  from  the  }  leur  in 

^  vcar 


dc ^ 

had  monc«   v^ 
permanent   to   i. 
twenty-seven  ycaia  ui  a^ 
business. 

17 
M3TTAR     aJ=IANA/a3     S3_Jf=1AHO 


CHARLES     EIDNA/ARD     PATTEN 


Charles  E.  Patten 


To  eastern  pluck  and  industry,  displayed  by  the  men  who 
migrated  from  the  older  sections  of  the  country  to  the  Pacific 
Coast,  is  due  much  of  the  credit  of  developing  the  lumber 
industry  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  The  men  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  modern  business  of  that  section  have 
witnessed  a  wonderful  transformation  in  the  industry.  Among 
those  men,  who  may  justly  be  said  to  have  contributed  to  this 
history-making  epoch,  is  Charles  Edward  Patten,  of  Seattle, 
Washington. 

He  is  a  product  of  the  great  middle  West,  having  been 
born  at  Lesueur,  Minnesota,  April  30,  1865,  his  parents  being 
Richard  Patten  and  Eliza  (Radcliflf)  Patten.  He  is  of  Scotch- 
English  ancestry,  his  paternal  grandfather  having  come  from 
southern  Scotland.  He  attended  the  public  schools  and  grad- 
uated from  the  high  school  at  Lesueur  in  1883,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years.  In  the  following  year  he  went  to  Seattle,  then 
a  prosperous  city  of  nearly  4,000  inhabitants.  From  there  he 
drifted  to  California,  where  he  spent  a  year;  then  returned  to 
his  home  in  Minnesota  and  bought  an  interest  in  a  drug  store 
in  his  native  town,  and,  by  hard  study  and  application,  was 
able  to  pass  the  State  examination  and  become  a  registered 
pharmacist  a  year  later. 

Mr.  Patten,  however,  was  cut  out  for  a  larger  and  a  broader 
business  than  that  of  a  retail  druggist,  and,  becoming  some- 
what restless  within  its  confines,  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the 
drug  store  in  1889  and  again  went  to  Seattle.  There  he  began 
dealing  in  real  estate,  representing  an  eastern  capitalist  who 
had  money  to  loan.  In  looking  about  for  something  more 
permanent  to  occupy  his  attention,  Mr.  Patten,  then  but 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  decided  to  engage  in  the  lumber 
business. 

87 


38  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

He  began  the  wholesaling  of  lumber  in  1892  and  was  joined 
later  by  A.  B.  Graham,  a  business  man  and  capitalist  from  the 
East  who  was  engaged  in  other  lines,  and  who,  although  still 
interested  with  Mr.  Patten,  never  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  business.  The  firm  of  Graham  &  Patten  was  formed  and 
continued  until  1894,  when  the  partners  purchased  the  mill 
plant  and  several  thousand  acres  of  timber  land  belonging  to 
the  old  McMurray  Cedar  Lumber  Company,  at  McMurray, 
Skagit  County,  seventy  miles  north  of  Seattle,  on  what  is  now 
the  Seattle  division  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway. 

To  better  control  this  business  the  Atlas  Lumber  Company 
was  incorporated  by  Mr.  Patten  and  Mr.  Graham,  and  subse- 
quently an  interest  in  the  concern  was  purchased  by  E.  W. 
Price.     In  1900  Mr.  Patten  bought  Mr.  Price's  stock  in  the 
company,  which  gave  him  the  control.     The  concern  was  then 
reorganized  as  the  Atlas  Lumber  &  Shingle  Company,  with  a 
capital  of  $150,000,  Mr.  Graham  becoming  president  and  Mr. 
Patten  vice  president,  secretary,  treasurer  and  manager.     The 
company  has  a  timber  supply  sufficient  to  last  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  cutting  at  the  rate  of  70,000  feet  a  day.     It  has  one  of 
the  finest  tracts  of  timber  in  the  State,  running  50  percent  to 
cedar  with  the  remainder  fir.     The  plant  of  the  company  at 
McMurray  is  equipped  with  three  band  saws  and  other  attend- 
ant machinery  and  is  run  largely  in  sawing  inch  stuff,  which 
is  worked  up  for  car  shipment  for  the  retail  lumber  trade  of 
the  East.     The  shingle  mill  has  a  capacity  of  300,000  a  day, 
and,  with  a  large  planing  mill  and  a  dry  kiln,  together  with  the 
logging  railroad  running  out  into  the  timber,  this  plant  is  a  very 
complete  one.     To  do  the  logging  for  the  mill  Mr.  Patten 
formed  two  logging  companies,  of  both  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent and  has  control.     They  are  the  Skagit  Logging  Company 
and  the  L.  Houghton  Logging  Company,  which  log  exclusively 
for  the  Atlas  Lumber  &  Shingle  Company. 

Mr.  Patten  has  great  faith  in  the  value  of  western  timber,  and 
from  time  to  time  has  personally  acquired  considerable  tracts 
of  timber  land  in  Washington  and  Oregon. 


CHARLES  E.  PATTEN  39 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Nome  excitement  he  secured 
several  good  claims  and  some  of  the  land  on  which  the  present 
city  of  Nome  is  built.  He  has  made  several  other  successful 
investments,  including  the  controlling  interest  in  a  fine  min- 
ing property  in  the  Sumpter  district,  in  eastern  Oregon.  He 
is  interested  in  several  Washington  banks  and  is  a  director  in 
the  Washington  National  Bank,  of  Seattle. 

Mr.  Patten  has  ever  been  foremost  in  association  work. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  the  prime  mover  in  the  first 
shingle  association,  which  was  formed  in  1892  and  afterwards 
collapsed.  During  the  last  ten  years  several  organizations  of 
lumber  and  shingle  associations  have  been  born  and  have  died, 
and  in  1900  the  Washington  Red  Cedar  Shingle  Manufacturers' 
Association  was  formed,  with  Mr.  Patten  as  treasurer  and  a 
member  of  the  executive  committee.  He  still  is  an  active 
worker  in  this  association,  but  has  declined  to  serve  as  its 
president. 

In  July,  1900,  when  crop  failure  in  the  Red  River  Valley 
made  it  necessary  for  the  eastern  shipping  lumbermen  of 
Washington  to  look  for  a  new  territory  in  which  to  dispose  of 
their  lumber  that  fall,  Mr.  Patten  sent  a  representative  of  the 
Atlas  Lumber  &  Shingle  Company  through  the  Nebraska, 
Colorado  and  Kansas  territory  to  investigate  the  situation  and 
to  gather  data  to  present  to  the  railroad  companies  with  a  re- 
quest for  a  reduction  in  the  rate  from  the  Pacific  Coast  that 
would  enable  shipments  to  be  made  in  competition  with 
southern  pine.  Largely  through  Mr.  Patten's  efforts  the 
Pacific  Coast  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association  was  formed, 
primarily  with  the  object  in  view  of  securing  a  reduction  in 
freight  rates  to  the  territory  mentioned.  Mr.  Patten  was  made 
vice  president  of  the  association,  which  ofKce  he  held  for  several 
years,  as  well  as  being  a  member  of  the  executive  committee. 
In  all  the  work  of  the  association  he  has  been  the  leader  and 
he  deserves  a  great  deal  of  credit  for  its  success. 

In  January,  1906,  Mr.  Patten  bought  the  sawmill  at  Tacoma 
formerly  owned  by  the  Far  West  Lumber  Company  and  or- 


40  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ganized  the  Reliance  Lumber  Company,  of  which  he  became 
president  and  general  manager,  to  operate  the  plant.  The 
mill  is  equipped  with  a  double  circular  head  saw,  a  double 
cutting  carriage  resaw  and  band  resaw,  and  runs  day  and  night. 
A  planing  mill  is  operated,  as  is  also  a  shingle  mill  with  two 
double  block  and  one  hand  shingle  machines  with  a  capacity 
of  250,000  shingles  in  ten  hours.  The  mill  has  an  output  of 
125,000  feet  of  lumber  daily  and  this  product  is  sold  through 
the  office  of  the  Atlas  Lumber  &  Shingle  Company.  This 
mill  supplies  a  large  local  trade  in  Tacoma,  and  what  is  not 
disposed  of  locally  is  shipped  East  by  rail,  or  to  California  by 
water,  the  plant  being  well  equipped  to  handle  cargo  business. 

Personally,  Mr.  Patten  is  kind  and  courteous,  an  agreeable 
companion,  and  an  interesting  conversationalist.  He  is  a  life 
member  and  a  trustee  of  the  Rainier  Club,  of  Seattle,  and  also 
is  a  life  member  of  the  Seattle  Athletic  Club.  In  Hoo-Hoo 
circles  he  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  member  of  the 
order  on  the  Coast,  having  been  initiated  in  Kansas  City, 
March  6,  1893,  before  any  concatenations  had  been  held  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  was  appointed  the  first  vice- 
gerent snark  for  Washington  and  Oregon  and  had  charge  of 
the  first  concatenation  ever  held  west  of  the  Rockies. 

He  has  taken  a  marked  interest  in  Masonic  matters,  and, 
besides  being  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  is 
Past  Eminent  Commander  of  Seattle  Commandery  No.  2, 
Knights  Templar,  and  Past  Master  of  Arcana  Lodge  No.  87, 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics  Mr.  Patten  is  a  stanch  Republic- 
an, though  he  has  never  taken  any  active  part  in  the  affairs  of 
the  party.  He  was  married  on  June  25,  1903,  to  Miss  Adelia 
Allmond. 


Ha 


N^  'ire 

on  ^ 


■  r     T  « 


11,  regardless  ( 
..-.,  -d  courage  to  gr^   , 

them, 
liarry  McCormick  is  of  Scotch-Irish  linpngc  and  in 
character  is  a  mixture  of  Scotch  8hrewdn«  d  Irish 

ability  to  circumstances.     He  was  ^"••^  ' 
Cherrytree,  a  small  town  on  the  Su 
County,  Pennsylvania.     His  great 
Valley,  Center  County,  the  same 
been  the  first  sawmill  in   Pe  .ania,   a 

)ts  of  the  ^  can  revolution. 

.  British   family  of  B 


.1 
lite  pmc  logs  that  grew  m 


ee  Harrv  McCormick  wer 


r^i!  regions 

1  vears.  , 

and  1  e  up  a  locomotive  on  the 

Alleg...       Vallc^  aowing 


HARRY    Mccormick 


Harry  McCormick 


Numerous  instances  go  to  prove  that  the  great  new  empire 
on  the  shores  of  the  north  Pacific  Coast  is  justly  entitled  to  its 
reputation  of  being  a  land  of  golden  opportunities.  The  life 
of  Harry  McCormick,  of  Portland,  Oregon,  is  a  marked  illus- 
tration of  this  fact,  and  also  of  the  possibilities  in  the  way  of 
achievement  there  open  to  every  man,  regardless  of  influence 
or  capital,  who  has  the  ability  and  courage  to  grasp  and  im- 
prove them. 

Harry  McCormick  is  of  Scotch-Irish  lineage  and  in  his 
character  is  a  mixture  of  Scotch  shrewdness  and  Irish  adapt- 
ability to  circumstances.  He  was  born  October  14,  1856,  at 
Cherrytree,  a  small  town  on  the  Susquehanna  River,  in  Indiana 
County,  Pennsylvania.  His  great-grandfather  built  at  Stone 
Valley,  Center  County,  the  same  State,  what  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  sawmill  in  Pennsylvania,  and  other  ancestors 
were  patriots  of  the  American  Revolution.  His  mother  came 
of  the  old  British  family  of  Bentons,  and  her  father,  John 
Benton,  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  Mr.  McCormick's 
father,  Robert  McCormick,  was  a  lumberman  and  logger  on 
the  Susquehanna  River  in  the  days  when  down  that  stream 
were  floated  some  of  the  finest  white  pine  logs  that  grew  in 
this  country. 

In  the  quiet  village  of  Cherrytree  Harry  McCormick  went 
to  the  school  provided  by  the  none  too  wealthy  community, 
and  obtained  a  fair  education  for  a  youth  of  that  section. 
When  seventeen  years  old  he  started  to  work  in  a  sawmill  at 
Twolicks,  Indiana  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  later  went  to  the 
oil  regions  in  Allegheny  Valley  and  labored  at  the  oil  wells  for 
several  years.  Railroading  appealed  to  his  youthful  ambition, 
and  he  gave  up  the  oil  business  to  fire  a  locomotive  on  the 
Allegheny  Valley  Railroad.     When  the  excitement  following 


41 


42  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  discovery  of  gold  near  Leadville,  Colorado,  in  1879,  was 
heralded  throughout  the  country,  young  McCormick  aban- 
doned all  thought  of  a  railroad  career  and,  with  only  $6  in 
his  pocket,  started  West  and  reached  the  mining  field.  It 
took  two  weeks  in  Leadville  to  dissipate  in  his  mind  the  idea 
of  a  fortune  to  be  had  for  the  mere  seeking.  Disgusted,  but 
not  disheartened,  he  walked  to  Webster,  a  distance  of  sixty 
miles,  where  he  joined  a  telegraph  construction  crew  on  the 
Denver  &  South  Park  Railroad.  His  display  of  intelligence 
in  this  rough  work  led  to  his  being  made  foreman  of  the  crew 
which  built  a  telegraph  line  into  the  Gunnison  country.  When 
this  work  was  completed  Mr.  McCormick  secured  a  fireman's 
job  on  what  is  now  the  Colorado  &  Southern  Railway.  At 
the  end  of  eleven  months  he  became  an  engineer  and  continued 
holding  a  throttle  until  retrenchment  by  the  company  led  him 
to  quit  its  service  and  go  to  San  Francisco. 

From  the  Golden  Gate  city  he  journeyed  to  Portland, 
Oregon,  where  he  arrived  June  24,  1883.  Unable  to  get  a 
position  there,  he  went  to  Spokane  and  became  a  brakeman 
on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  and  for  a  short  time  was 
brakeman  and  conductor  on  a  construction  train.  Tiring  of 
railroad  life,  Mr.  McCormick  began  ranching  at  Plains,  Mon- 
tana; but  this  occupation  was  too  inactive,  and  he  went  back 
to  the  Northern  Pacific  as  a  repairman  in  the  telegraph  de- 
partment. In  July,  1888,  he  assumed  the  management  of  the 
American  District  Telegraph  Company  office  at  Butte,  Mon- 
tana, which  position  he  held  four  months,  when  he  returned 
to  his  old  home  in  Pennsylvania.  Going  West  again  in  the 
spring  of  1889,  he  took  charge  of  a  telegraph  construction 
crew  at  Hope,  Idaho,  on  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  transferred  to  the  Pacific  division. 

The  vast  forests  of  fir,  spruce  and  cedar  of  western  Wash- 
ington impressed  Mr.  McCormick  with  their  value  from  a 
commercial  standpoint,  and  he  determined  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness for  himself.  His  initial  work  in  this  line  was  the  putting 
in  of  telegraph  poles  and  piling  under  contract.     His  experi- 


HARRY  Mccormick  43 

ence  in  telegraph  construction  gave  him  a  knowledge  of  the 
enormous  demand  for  crossarms  for  telegraph  poles,  and,  in 
1895,  with  the  money  he  had  made  at  contracting,  he  built  at 
Centralia,  Washington,  the  first  factory  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
for  the  manufacture  of  crossarms.     The  plant  was  a  small  one 
and  the  raw  material  was  secured  from  sawmills  in  the  vicinity. 
The  business  prospered  and  in  1896  Mr.  McCormick  built  an 
additional   crossarm    factory  at   Aberdeen,  Washington,  and 
another  at  Bucoda,  following  this  a  year  later  by  factories  at 
Seattle   and   Everett.     In   1896  Mr.  McCormick,  with  F.  B. 
Hubbard,  Frank  L.  Hale,  E.  E.  Dilldine  and  others,  organ- 
ized the  H.  McCormick  Lumber  Company,  and  in  January, 
1897,  was  commenced  the  work  of  building  the  mill  plant  at 
McCormick,  Washington,  on  the  South  Bend  Branch  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railway,  west  of  Chehalis.     Two  years  later 
Mr.  McCormick  and  his  associates  organized  the  Rock  Creek 
Lumber  Company  and  built  a  mill  at  Rock  Creek,  two  miles 
west  of  McCormick.    This  property  was  sold  to  the  Walworth 
&  Neville  Manufacturing  Company  in  1903. 

Following  the  sale  of  the  Rock  Creek  plant,  Mr.  McCor- 
mick and  Mr.  Hale  bought  the  interests  of  Mr.  Hubbard, 
Mr.  Dilldine  and  others  associated  with  them  in  the  H.  Mc- 
Cormick Lumber  Company.  The  same  year  Mr.  McCormick 
and  Mr.  Hale  bought  the  sawmill  and  timber  holdings  of  the 
Marzell-Mueller  Lumber  Company,  located  one  mile  east  of 
McCormick.  The  capacity  of  the  two  mills  operated  by  the 
H.  McCormick  Lumber  Company  is  150,000  feet  a  day  of  ten 
hours.    The  timber  holdings  comprise  about  500,000,000  feet. 

Besides  being  president  of  the  lumber  company,  Mr.  Mc- 
Cormick is  president  of  the  McCormick  &  Columbia  River 
Railroad.  Mr.  McCormick,  at  the  start  of  the  operations  at 
McCormick,  built  a  standard  gauge  railroad  into  the  timber, 
and,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  this  line  through  the  timber 
to  the  Columbia  River,  a  distance  of  twenty-two  miles,  a  sepa- 
rate corporation  was  formed.  Another  interest  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Cormick is  the  National  Investment  Company,  of  Los  Angeles, 


44  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

California,  which  deals  in  farm  and  timber  lands  in  Mexico. 
He  is  president  of  that  company. 

The  intense  interest  Mr.  McCormick  takes  in  matters  per- 
taining to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  lumber  industry  resulted 
in  his  election  in  December,  1904,  as  president  of  the  South- 
western Washington  Lumber  Manufacturers' Association,  and 
at  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  was  unanimously  reelected. 
His  ability  as  an  executive  officer  was  well  shown  during  his 
first  term  by  a  practical  reorganization  of  the  association,  its 
ranks  being  strengthened  and  its  usefulness  and  progressive- 
ness  being  demonstrated  throughout.  Mr.  McCormick  is  an 
earnest  and  forcible  speaker,  is  a  man  of  literary  tastes,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  popular  of  Washington  lumbermen. 

Mr.  McCormick  married  Miss  Ida  Mullen,  of  Curwensville, 
Pennsylvania,  March  4,  1881.  The  couple  has  one  child  liv- 
ing— Augusta.  Mr.  McCormick  and  his  wife,  in  1905,  bought 
a  beautiful  home  in  one  of  the  fine  residential  sections  of  Port- 
land and  took  up  their  residence  in  that  city,  because  of  the 
better  educational  advantages  it  afforded  for  their  daughter. 


R  '  inman 


AH  concern  must  stand  or  fall 

er  of  manufacture  depend  the 
business  standing  of  any  ins'  n 

manufacture  of  er  with  its 

.hose  to  whom  the 
ably  have  diligently  made  f^ 
necessity,  havine  an 
The   ideal   org  tion  pu;         ^  ^  ^ 

combines  those  who  have  had  cxpe         .c  in     _ 
man  who  is  a  specialist  in  manufacture  and  who  1.. 
success  with  other  specialists  is  Robert  David  Inman,  . 
land,  Oregon. 

He  is  president  of  Inman,  Poulsen  &  Co.,  «  v^-rpo- 
and   has   charge  of   its   manufacturing   operations,     i 
^^:r.../i     ..  :  ?     ^^,..,f  ,;.v,n  on  the  Pacific  Coast  as  a  le 

1  ur  thirty-five  years  Mr.  I: ^ 

a  id  and   busily  at  work  in  uic  n  ux 

whicii  uiiit  cii)  is  liie  commercial  center. 

t  D.  Inman  is  the  son  of  Asa  Inman  and  l. 

He  was  born  in  Miami  County,  Ohio,  A 
ib^  'er  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  ^>  U 

Cou  h  of  the  f.  '  the 

Civil  V\ 


wj  ncc  (J 

him.  one  to  gu^ 

of  ad  a  boy  of  twelve 

emigrant^  __      ^9^|hc  ?^., 

46 


ROBERT     DAVID     INMAN 


Robert  D.  Inman 


All  departments  of  a  lumber  concern  must  stand  or  fall 
together,  but  upon  the  character  of  manufacture  depend  the 
reputation  and  continued  business  standing  of  any  institution 
which  combines  the  manufacture  of  lumber  with  its  sale.  In 
this  industry  those  to  whom  the  greatest  success  has  come  invari- 
ably have  diligently  made  one  branch  a  specialty,  though,  of 
necessity,  having  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  all  branches. 
The  ideal  organization  pursuing  a  manufacturing  business 
combines  those  who  have  had  experience  in  each  line.  A 
man  who  is  a  specialist  in  manufacture  and  who  has  won  his 
success  with  other  specialists  is  Robert  David  Inman,  of  Port- 
land, Oregon. 

He  is  president  of  Inman,  Poulsen  &  Co.,  a  corporation, 
and  has  charge  of  its  manufacturing  operations.  He  has 
gained  a  wide  reputation  on  the  Pacific  Coast  as  a  leader  in 
lumber  mechanics.  For  thirty-five  years  Mr,  Inman  has  been 
a  resident  of  Portland  and  busily  at  work  in  the  section  of 
which  that  city  is  the  commercial  center. 

Robert  D.  Inman  is  the  son  of  Asa  Inman  and  Lucindia 
Kendel.  He  was  born  in  Miami  County,  Ohio,  August  ii, 
1853.  Shortly  after  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Marshall 
County,  Iowa,  and,  through  the  death  of  the  father  in  the 
Civil  War,  the  family  was  disrupted  and  the  boy  Robert  was 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  Perhaps  the  fact  that  he  had 
to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world  and  fight  his  own  battles 
against  adversity  has  made  him  a  stronger  and  better  man. 
He  had  no  opportunity  of  gaining  an  education;  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  importance  of  a  mental  training  then  occurred  to 
him.  With  no  one  to  guide  him,  young  Inman,  with  the  love 
of  adventure  of  a  boy  of  twelve  years,  in  1865  joined  a  party  of 
emigrants  bound  for  the   Pacific  Coast.     The   company  left 

45 


46  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Marshalltown,  Iowa,  May  21,  and  began  the  long,  weary  jour- 
ney across  the  plains  and  mountains  toward  Portland,  which 
was  not  reached  until  November  i.  He  had  a  varied  experi- 
ence on  this  trip,  the  emigrants  being  attacked  several  times 
by  bands  of  Indians,  and  several  of  the  outfitters  belonging  to 
the  caravan  were  lost  in  the  sanguinary  fights. 

Little  there  was  for  a  boy  of  Robert  Inman's  age  to  do  in 

Oregon,   then   a  land  about  which   practically   nothing   was 

known.     He  managed  to  eke  out  an  existence  for  himself  for 

a  year  and  a  half  and  then  began  a  nomadic  life  as  a  member 

of  a  circus.     He  followed  this  life  for  two  years  before  he 

tired  of  it  and  realized  that  there  was  more  in  life  than  he  had 

thought.     His  first  knowledge  of  the  sawmill  business  was 

acquired  in  connection  with  the  Willamette  steam  sawmill  in 

Portland,  where  he  began  his  lumber  career  in  1868.     Seven 

years  he  remained  in  the  mill,  rising  from  the  position  of  a 

common  laborer  to  the  more  responsible  one  of  foreman  of 

the  planing  mill  department.     All  this  time  he   studied  the 

several  phases  of  manufacture,  never  losing  sight  of  the  fact 

that  he  was  there  to  learn.    He  was  energetic,  industrious  and 

thrifty,  so  that  in  the  years  that  he  was  with  the  Willamette 

mill  he  had  saved  a  snug  sum  of  money,  which  enabled  him 

to  assist,  with  L.  Therkelsen,   N.  Vessteeg  and  L.   P.  W. 

Quinby,   in   the  organization  of  the   North   Pacific   Lumber 

Company,   which  built  the  North  Pacific  mill  in   Portland. 

Mr.  Inman  operated  the  mill  until  1889,  when  he  sold  his 

interest  in    the    company  and   joined    fortunes  with   Johann 

Poulsen,  with  whom  he  is  today  associated.    Mr.  Poulsen  had 

been  a  stockholder  in  the  North  Pacific  Lumber  Company  and 

previously  had  been  identified  with  the  Willamette  mill,  acting 

in  the  capacity  of  secretary. 

Mr.  Inman  and  Mr.  Poulsen  organized  the  business  of 
Inman,  Poulsen  &  Co.  in  1889,  and  a  year  later  it  was  incor- 
porated. A  mill  was  built  and  operated  successfully  until  fire 
swept  the  plant  in  November,  1896.  The  two  partners  were 
undaunted  by  the  disaster  and  within  ninety  days  the  damaged 


ROBERT  D.  INMAN  47 

mill  had  been  replaced  by  a  more  modern  plant  and  was  run- 
ning and  cutting  100,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day.  Improvements 
have  been  made  in  the  plant  from  time  to  time  within  the  last 
ten  years  until  today  the  capacity  and  output  is  500,000  feet 
daily.  Outside  of  the  local  business  done  by  the  company,  the 
output  is  sold  to  the  California  trade,  to  the  ever  increasing 
number  of  eastern  customers,  as  well  as  to  the  railroads  and 
for  export  shipment. 

Mr.  Inman  is  the  mechanical  head  of  the  company's  oper- 
ations, which  he  has  brought  up  to  a  most  successful  point  of 
effectiveness.  The  mill  cuts  practically  nothing  but  fir  timber, 
buying  its  logs  delivered  in  the  river.  In  the  mill  is  a  quad- 
ruple circular,  a  gang,  two  band  resaws  with  special  devices 
for  running  cants,  a  Pacific  Coast  edger,  a  flitch  machine  and 
the  necessary  complement  of  trimmers,  slashers,  cross  trans- 
fers, live  rollers  and  lumber  sorters.  The  lath  mill  is  consid- 
ered one  of  the  best  and  most  efficient  upon  the  Pacific  Coast, 
having  specially  heavy  and  fast  machinery  turning  out  50,000 
to  60,000  lath  a  day,  with  six  men.  The  equipment  of  the 
planing  department  consists  of  a  20  by  30-inch  timber  planer 
with  five  fast  feed  matchers.  There  also  are  two  special  ceil- 
ing machines  and  one  band  resaw  with  an  eight-inch  saw.  The 
filing  room  is  complete,  much  of  the  machinery  being  auto- 
matic. Heavy  exhaust  fans  carry  away  the  shavings  from  the 
machinery.  The  present  mill  of  Inman,  Poulsen  &  Co.  is 
erected  upon  the  east  bank  of  the  Willamette  River,  in  South 
Portland,  across  and  farther  up  stream  from  the  center  of  the 
city. 

Mr.  Inman  married  Miss  Frances  L.  Guild,  a  daughter  of 
Peter  Guild,  one  of  the  Portland  pioneers,  May  2,  1875.  Of 
this  union  have  been  born  two  daughters,  Minnie  Myrtle  and 
Ivy  Frances. 

Mr.  Inman  is  one  of  those  self-sacrificing  business  men 
who  will,  in  addition  to  giving  perfectly  faithful  service  to  the 
individual  interests  of  those  of  the  company  with  which  he  is 
allied,  devote  careful  attention  to  public  matters.    He  has  added 


48  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

to  the  wealth  of  the  State  and  Nation  by  his  political  work. 
He  is  a  prominent  Democrat  and  has  been  a  standard  bearer 
of  the  party.  Recently  he  was  spoken  of  for  United  States 
senator,  though  he  declined  to  entertain  the  thought  and 
wishes  of  his  friends.  He  always  has  done  herculean  service 
for  his  party  and  when  a  choice  of  plums  is  to  be  had  his  ap- 
preciative friends  mention  his  name  for  office.  He  has  been 
a  member  of  the  water  committee  of  the  city  council,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
of  Portland.  He  also  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate,  having  been  elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket  in  a 
district  which  gave  a  large  RepubHcan  majority  for  congress- 
man. His  first  election  to  a  State  office  was  as  a  member  of 
the  Lower  House  of  the  Oregon  Legislature  eight  years  ago, 
being  the  only  Democrat  who  had  been  elected  from  Multno- 
mah County  in  twenty  years.  Later,  he  served  a  term  as  State 
senator.  In  1894  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  mayor 
of  Portland.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Merchants'  National 
Bank,  of  Portland. 

Personally,  Mr.  Inman  is  one  of  the  most  unassuming  of 
men.  He  always  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  worker  and  he  never 
has  felt  it  beneath  him  to  hammer  a  saw  or  set  up  a  planer  or 
do  anything  by  which  his  hand  might  facilitate  operations  in 
an  emergency.  His  position  in  the  company  keeps  him  closely 
in  touch  with  every  man  in  its  employ,  for  he  is  practically  his 
own  superintendent;  and,  though  he  has  risen  above  the  rank 
and  file,  he  is  still  a  member  of  the  industrial  army  and  has  per- 
mitted no  diminution  of  his  sympathy  with  the  man  who  works 
by  the  day  in  the  humblest  capacity. 

Mr.  Inman  is  a  stalwart  Hoo-Hoo  and  has  shown  an  un- 
varying interest  in  the  order  since  its  inception.  He  was  vice- 
gerent for  his  State,  later  a  member  of  the  supreme  nine  and 
in  1895,  when  the  Hoo-Hoo  annual  was  held  in  Portland,  a 
graceful  tribute  was  paid  to  the  Coast  and  to  the  individual 
himself  by  the  choice  of  Robert  David  Inman  for  snark  of  the 
universe. 


Ta' 


•  It  to  g 
in  so  ^e  the  wealth   .+ 

whose  individual  effort  has  had  mu 
social  and  industrial  development  of  t 
ritory  is  Henry  L.  Pittock,  of  Portland 

Henry  L.  Pittock  was  born  in  E 
to  the  United  States  with  his  parenre   with  whom  he 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  until  i^  lere  he  ^ 

printing  t-  Not  finding  ky  City 

t  I  an  !i  in   1853,  v\ 

^  Oregon  Ci 


Lhem 

je   of  aii. 
with  the  r 

s  and  C 
-gon. 
in  1837,  a. 


>\   .1  3        11  '-  '  1 


due  t' 

nal  and  wa- 

s  \  the  DatlyU 

the  country's  grca; 

only  was  this  advocated  in 


and  iuuiidcr  of  t^- 

isul  to  the  F 

ir.  nttock  in  ^• 
' '  -1  was  3  I- 


>4 


OOT— 1<^       -J     VRU^BM 


HENRY     U.     PITTOCK 


Henry  L.  Pittock 


Taken  as  a  whole  the  progress  of  civilization  is  due  not  so 
much  to  associated  as  to  individual  effort.  Primarily,  man 
builds  for  himself,  the  underlying  principles  of  achievement 
being  self-protection  and  individual  well-being.  But  though 
man  builds  for  the  individual  he  does  not  build  for  that  alone. 
The  men  who  conceive  a  business  enterprise,  who  establish  it, 
nurture  it  and  cause  it  to  grow  strong,  enrich  themselves,  but, 
in  so  doing,  enlarge  the  wealth  and  resource  of  all.  One 
whose  individual  effort  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  political, 
social  and  industrial  development  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  ter- 
ritory is  Henry  L.  Pittock,  of  Portland,  Oregon. 

Henry  L.  Pittock  was  born  in  England  in  1837,  and  came 
to  the  United  States  with  his  parents,  with  whom  he  lived  in 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  until  1852,  and  where  he  learned  the 
printing  trade.  Not  finding  the  Smoky  City  suited  to  his 
tastes,  he  joined  an  emigrant  train  in  1853,  with  which  he 
crossed  the  great  plains,  reaching  Oregon  City,  the  then  me- 
tropolis of  the  Oregon  country,  after  a  wearisome  journey. 
Being  unable  to  secure  employment  at  that  place,  he  went  to 
the  then  little  village  of  Portland,  where  he  was  given  a  posi- 
tion as  printer  on  the  Weekly  Oregonian,  from  which  has  been 
evolved  the  present  representative  western  daily  newspaper. 
The  newspaper  business  in  that  territory  evidently  was  not  a 
profitable  vocation,  for  when  the  editor  and  founder  of  the 
paper  secured  the  appointment  of  consul  to  the  Hawaiian 
court  he  transferred  the  paper  to  Mr.  Pittock  in  lieu  of  money 
due  the  printer.  At  this  time  the  Oregonian  was  a  weekly  jour- 
nal and  was  continued  as  such  until  1861,  when  Mr.  Pittock 
started  the  Daily  Oregonian.  Through  this  paper  was  preached 
the  country's  greatness  and  the  wealth  of  its  resources.  Not 
only  was  this  advocated  in  principle,  but  also  in  practice. 

49 


50  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

One  of  the  first  departures  made  was  the  purchase  of  a 
modern  paper  machine,  which  was  bought  in  1867,  and  set  up 
on  the  Clackamas  River,  near  Oregon  City,  Oregon.  This 
was  the  first  paper  mill  established  in  the  northwest  territory. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  Mr.  Pittock  did  not  make 
his  first  purchase  of  timber  for  the  manufacture  of  paper,  for 
at  that  time  the  possibilities  of  wood  pulp  were  unknown.  In 
1880  it  was  decided  to  enlarge  the  paper  plant  and  the  orig- 
inal structure  was  dismantled  and  a  new  and  larger  mill  was 
built  on  the  Columbia  River,  at  Camas,  a  few  miles  above 
Vancouver,  Clarke  County,  Washington. 

Through  his  connection  with  the  paper  plant  Mr.  Pittock 
ultimately  had  forcibly  directed  to  his  attention  the  immense 
value  of  the  timber  of  the  Northwest,  and  it  was  at  the  Camas 
plant  that  he  first  became  a  factor  in  the  timber  market  of  the 
Pacific  Coast.  His  keen  foresight  revealed  to  him  that  the 
timber  of  the  Coast  State  was  one  of  its  principal  resources 
and  the  one  that  would  first  be  developed.  He  secured  4,000 
acres  of  timber  lands  near  Camas  and  built  a  sawmill  on  La 
Camas  Lake,  under  the  corporate  title  of  the  La  Camas  Mill 
Company.  This  mill  was  at  first  operated  by  water  power.  A 
railroad  was  built  from  La  Camas  Lake  to  the  Columbia  River 
to  haul  the  lumber  from  the  mill  to  a  point  accessible  to  ves- 
sels, which  then  afforded  the  best  means  of  transportation.  In 
furthering  these  enterprises  Mr.  Pittock  invested  about  $250,- 
000,  at  that  time  a  relatively  larger  outlay  than  it  would  be  in 
the  present  day  of  colossal  combinations  of  capital. 

The  launching  of  the  La  Camas  mill  enterprise  marked 
Mr.  Pittock's  initiation  into  the  lumber  business  and  was  the 
beginning  of  his  timber  holdings  in  Washington  and  Oregon, 
which  today  represent  the  title  to  or  an  interest  in  probably 
40,000  acres  of  timber  land.  He  has  been  a  persistent  and 
consistent  buyer  of  timber  land  from  that  time  to  the  present, 
and  sincerely  believes  in  the  wealth-making  future  of  the  tim- 
ber of  the  Pacific  Coast  states. 

Mr.  Pittock  is  president  of  the  Washington  &  Oregon 


HENRY  L.  PITTOCK  51 

Lumber  Company,  of  Vancouver,  Washington;  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Willamette  Valley  Lumber  Company,  of  Dallas, 
Oregon,  the  Skamania  Logging  Company,  of  Portland,  Ore- 
gon, the  Siletz  Timber  Company,  of  Dallas,  Oregon,  and  the 
Salem,  Falls  City  &  Western  Railway  Company,  and  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Charles  K.  Spaulding  Logging  Company,  of  New- 
berg,  Oregon.  His  timber  interests  include  a  one-half  inter- 
est in  300,000,000  feet  of  yellow  fir  held  by  the  Skamania  Log- 
ging Company;  a  one-fourth  interest  in  450,000,000  feet  held 
by  the  Siletz  Timber  Company;  a  one-fifth  interest  in  750,- 
000,000  feet  held  by  the  Charles  K.  Spaulding  Logging  Com- 
pany, and  scattered  holdings  aggregating  50,000,000  feet. 

Mr.  Pittock  is  a  typical  business  man  of  the  West  whose  in- 
terests are  so  intimately  identified  with  it  that  it  is  difficult  to 
segregate  them.     In  addition  to  his  timber  holdings  and  log- 
ging interests  he  is  a  director  in  several  representative  banks; 
a  vice  president  and  heavy  stockholder  in  the  Columbia  River 
&  Northern  Railway  Company,  which  owns  and  operates  a 
regular  line  of  steamers  plying  between   Portland  and  The 
Dalles;  is  president  and  half  owner  of  the  V/estern  Transpor- 
tation &  Towing  Company,  of  Portland,  a  concern  which  tows 
logs  for  the  different  sawmills;  owns  timber,  steamboats  and 
barges  on  the  Columbia  River,  and  owns  and  controls  large 
real   estate    interests    in    the    Northwest,    particularly  in    and 
around  Portland.     He  has  a  substantial  interest  in  mines,  es- 
pecially those  in  the  sections  tributary  to  his  field  of   active 
operations  along  other  lines,  notably  in  eastern  and  southern 
Oregon. 

Any  enterprise  looking  to  the  development  of  the  country 
where  he  has  made  his  home  so  long  has  "open  sesame"  to 
Mr.  Pittock's  time  and  attention  and  enlists  the  sympathies  of 
his  paper  and  is  freely  supported.  His  business  judgment 
and  his  sound,  common  sense  have  played  an  important  part 
in  times  of  political  crises,  or  of  great  political  upheavals.  He 
frequently  has  been  consulted  on  matters  of  great  moment  and 
his  advice  always  has  been  accepted  and  acted  upon.     Perfect 


52  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

harmony  exists  between  Mr.  Pittock  and  H.  W.  Scott,  the 
chief  editor  of  the  Daily  Oregonian,  and,  while  the  paper  ex- 
presses the  editorial  views  of  the  latter,  the  final  judgment 
of  the  two  men  has  made  the  paper  arbitrator  of  great  as  well 
as  minor  questions  and  its  dictum  is  practically  a  finality. 

Mr.  Pittock's  family  life  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant.  He 
married  at  Portland  Miss  Georgiana  Burton,  one  of  the 
adopted  daughters  of  the  West  who  reached  it  by  the  arduous 
and  adventurous  route  across  the  plains,  the  daughter  of  a 
pioneer,  who,  as  a  leading  architect,  was  exceedingly  well  and 
favorably  known  in  Oregon's  early  history.  A  family  of  four 
daughters  and  one  son  has  been  reared  by  the  couple.  Mr. 
Pittock  is  a  member  of  many  clubs  and  a  thirty-third  degree 
Mason.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Unitarian  Church. 
Mr.  Pittock  finds  rest  and  pleasure  in  traveling,  and  his  trips 
have  taken  him  all  over  the  country. 


I 


ter 


\t 


on  ■  is  Free 

Oregon. 

Since  Mr.  Leadbctter  has  be. 
ing  gone  there  as  a  young  man- 
an  acknowledged  position  of  imi 
the  lumber  industry  of  the  Pac 
that  section  of  tb  v.  but  i 

he  has  witness  nti?  r 

a 

V 


into  the 

nse 
lent,  the 
in  har- 
^  to  do. 
n,  as  befits  a   t 
:;ressive  men 
better,  of  P 

u  of  Oregon- 
idvanced  rap> 
'^  respond 
was  [ 

ss, 

lauiber 
in  more 


tio 
his  t 
tembei 


!!• 


T3aaA3-J     MAI_J_JINA/    >J 


,irrf?i^^^' 


FREDEIRICK    WILLIAM     LE  A  DB  ETTE  R 


Frederick  W.  Leadbetter 


Modern  ideas  and  modern  methods  are  woven  into  the 
whole  commercial  fabric  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  In  this  immense 
territory,  whose  resources  are  only  nearing  development,  the 
men  in  charge  of  lumber  affairs  are  of  large  caliber,  in  har- 
mony with  the  works  of  nature  with  which  they  have  to  do. 
Besides,  they  are  comparatively  young  men,  as  befits  a  new 
country.  An  example  of  the  vigorous,  aggressive  men  found 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  is  Frederick  W.  Leadbetter,  of  Portland, 
Oregon. 

Since  Mr.  Leadbetter  has  been  a  resident  of  Oregon — hav- 
ing gone  there  as  a  young  man — he  has  advanced  rapidly  to 
an  acknowledged  position  of  importance  and  responsibility  in 
the  lumber  industry  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  was  not  born  in 
that  section  of  the  country,  but  in  the  years  he  has  lived  there 
he  has  witnessed  a  tremendous  growth  in  its  lumber  business, 
and  today  he  is  identified  with  some  of  its  principal  lumber 
enterprises.  His  first  investments  were  in  timber,  but  in  more 
recent  years  he  has  invested  heavily  in  manufacturing  projects. 
By  persistent,  painstaking  methods  Mr.  Leadbetter  has  gained 
an  eminent  position  and  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  stanchly 
conservative  men  of  the  Coast. 

Frederick  William  Leadbetter  comes  of  a  family  of  lumber- 
men. His  progenitors  were  residents  of  New  England,  where 
the  lumber  industry  of  the  country  had  its  inception.  His 
grandfather,  Horace  Leadbetter,  and  the  latter's  brother, 
Lorenzo  Leadbetter,  were  among  the  leading  lumbermen  on 
the  famed  Penobscot  River,  and  later  Lorenzo  Leadbetter 
became  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  Michigan  white  pine  sec- 
tion. Mr.  Leadbetter's  fatherwas  Charles  H.  Leadbetter,  and 
his  mother  Annie  (Comings)  Leadbetter.  He  was  born  Sep- 
tember 15,  1869,  at  Chnton,  Iowa,  where  the  family  resided 

53 


54  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

at  that  time.  Subsequently,  his  father  and  mother  moved  to 
New  York,  where  the  son  made  the  acquaintance  of  mathe- 
matics, geography  and  Enghsh.  He  still  was  a  youth  when  a 
move  was  made  by  the  family  from  New  York  to  San  Jose, 
California,  where  he  continued  his  studies  at  the  normal  school. 

Mr.  Leadbetter  first  became  interested  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness while  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  His  initial 
venture  was  as  the  proprietor  of  a  sawmill  at  La  Camas,  Clarke 
County,  Washington.  The  mill  was  not  of  large  proportions, 
but  it  was  an  investment  of  considerable  importance  to  Mr. 
Leadbetter.  Though  he  was  not  familiar  with  the  details  of 
sawmilling,  he  had  a  good  business  training,  and,  with  his  tact 
and  energy  and  by  placing  many  of  the  responsible  details  in 
more  experienced  hands,  the  venture  proved  a  successful  one. 

Gradually,  Mr.  Leadbetter  enlarged  his  interests  and  their 
scope  so  as  to  include  timber  propositions  in  Washington  and 
Oregon.  Then,  as  the  production  in  those  states  increased, 
he  became  an  investor  in  many  producing  plants.  He  early 
recognized  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  cedar,  pine  and  larch 
forests  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  secured  holdings  in  various 
parts  of  Washington  and  Oregon.  Later,  he  was  drawn  into 
other  lumber  manufacturing  enterprises  besides  that  at  Camas, 
and  today  he  is  the  owner  of  one  comparatively  small  mill  and 
has  investments  in  many  others. 

He  is  interested  in  the  following  mills,  the  daily  capacity  of 
each  of  which  is  given:  Portland  Lumber  Company,  Port- 
land, Oregon,  400,000  feet;  Washington  &  Oregon  Lumber 
Company,  Vancouver,  Washington,  300,000  feet;  Charles  K. 
Spaulding  Logging  Company,  with  mills  at  Newberg,  Salem, 
Independence  and  McMinnville,  Oregon,  total  450,000  feet, 
and  the  Willamette  Valley  Lumber  Company,  Dallas,  Oregon, 
200,000  feet.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Washington  & 
Oregon  Lumber  Company;  treasurer  of  the  Willamette  Valley 
Lumber  Company;  the  Siletz  Timber  Company  and  the  Salem, 
Falls  City  &  Western  Railway  Company,  all  of  Dallas,  Oregon; 
director   of   the  Charles    K.    Spaulding   Logging   Company, 


FREDERICK  W.  LEADBETTER  55 

Newberg  and  Salem,  Oregon;  vice  president  of  the  Skamania 
Logging  Company,  Portland,  Oregon,  and  president  of  the 
Mountain  Lumber  Company,  Camas,  Washington. 

Among  the  mills  named  are  several  of  the  largest  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  w^here  big  mills  are  the  rule.  They  all 
are  of  modern  equipment  and  built  in  a  substantial  manner. 
All  are  backed  by  large  timber  holdings,  sufficient  to  insure 
their  operation  for  many  years  at  the  present  volume  of  pro- 
duction. The  largest  of  the  mills  make  cargo  shipments,  and 
their  product  has  been  shipped  to  nearly  every  country  on  the 
globe.  With  the  yearly  increasing  trade  throughout  the 
United  States,  particularly  in  the  eastern  section,  a  steadily 
widening  business  is  assured. 

In  addition  to  the  manufacturing  interests  enumerated,  Mr. 
Leadbetter  has  large  timber  interests.  He  owns,  personally, 
200,000,000  feet  of  yellow  fir  in  Clarke  County,  Washington; 
a  one-half  interest  in  300,000,000  feet  of  yellow  fir  in  Skamania 
County,  Washington;  a  one-fourth  interest  in  450,000,000  feet 
held  by  the  Siletz  Timber  Company  in  Polk  County,  Oregon; 
a  one-fifth  interest  in  750,000,000  feet  held  by  the  Charles  K. 
Spaulding  Logging  Company  in  Polk  and  Lane  counties, 
Oregon,  and  100,000,000  feet  in  scattered  holdings. 

These  various  interests  of  Mr.  Leadbetter  necessarily 
occupy  much  of  his  time,  yet  he  is  never  too  busy  to  consider 
any  business  matter  which  is  laid  before  him.  Though  his 
main  investments  are  in  timber  and  lumber,  he  has  others, 
being  vice  president  of  the  Western  Transportation  &  Towing 
Company,  of  Portland,  Oregon,  and  first  vice  president  and 
the  largest  holder  of  the  stock  and  bonds  of  the  Crown 
Columbia  Pulp  &  Paper  Company,  of  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia. This  concern  operates  mills  at  Camas,  Washington, 
and  Oregon  City,  Oregon,  and  has  a  daily  capacity  of  seventy- 
five  tons  of  finished  paper. 

Mr.  Leadbetter  married  Miss  Caroline  T.  Pittock,  a 
daughter  of  Henry  L.  Pittock  and  Georgia  Burton  Pittock,  at 
Portland,  Oregon.     Of  this  union  have  been  born  one  boy  and 


56  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

three  girls— Henry  P.,  Georgia  C,  Dorothy  Vose  and  Eliza- 
beth Leadbetter.  The  family  occupies  a  handsome  home, 
beautifully  appointed,  in  one  of  the  delightful  residential  sec- 
tions of  Portland. 

Mr.  Leadbetter  is  president  of  the  Portland  Commercial 
Club  and  in  that  position  he  has  worked  faithfully  to  advance 
the  development  of  the  city.  He  is  fond  of  social  life  and 
holds  membership  in  the  ArHngton,  Multnomah  Athletic, 
Waverly  Golf,  Portland  Rowing  and  the  Portland  Hunt  clubs. 
His  chief  recreation  is  riding;  and  in  the  saddle  for  a  gallop 
over  the  beautiful  roads  and  hills  in  and  about  Portland  Mr. 
Leadbetter  finds  recreation  and  healthy  exercise.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, but  has  never  taken  more  interest  in  campaigns  and 
elections  than  any  citizen  who  has  the  welfare  of  his  city,  state 
and  country  at  heart. 


In  h. 


-    ;  jour     . 
"  Oregon  country,  settlin<i:  in  Y.. 

here  that  Robert  A.  Booth  was  on  \* 

len  he  was  nine  years  of  age  his  parents  : 

ibur,  in  Douglas  County,  and  there,  later,  he 

ucation  at  the  old  Umpqua  Academy.    DurintT  the  cnm- 

nhtainpH  employment  on  a  farm  and  ear  '^ 

way  at  school  for  a  few  months  *. 

'"Hteen  years  old  he  began  to  f" 

"^mer  months, ;Stili  pur^--' -^ 

-  •"■nter.      After    ^- 

—    ,^n .  :. 


HTOOa    -A    x« 


R 


OBERT     A-     BOOTH 


Robert  A.  Booth 


In  harmony  with  the  great  forest  growths  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  are  the  characteristics  of  the  men  who  are  the  leading 
exponents  of  the  lumber  industry  of  that  section.  Broad,  stal- 
wart and  sound  are  they  as  are  the  giants  of  the  woods.  Among 
the  men  born  in  the  vast  empire  made  known  by  Lewis  and 
Clark  and  who  have  attained  success  in  their  native  domain 
is  Robert  A.  Booth,  of  Eugene,  Lane  County,  Oregon. 

He  is  the  son  of  Rev.  Robert  Booth,  who  came  from  Eng- 
land to  this  country  in  1830  and,  in  1852,  journeyed  across  the 
continent  and  up  into  the  Oregon  country,  settling  in  Yamhill 
County.  It  was  here  that  Robert  A.  Booth  was  born  on  May 
15,  1858.  When  he  was  nine  years  of  age  his  parents  moved 
to  Wilbur,  in  Douglas  County,  and  there,  later,  he  received 
his  education  at  the  old  Umpqua  Academy.  During  the  sum- 
mer he  obtained  employment  on  a  farm  and  earned  sufficient 
money  to  pay  his  way  at  school  for  a  few  months  in  the  winter. 
When  he  was  seventeen  years  old  he  began  to  teach  country 
school  during  the  summer  months,  still  pursuing  his  education 
at  the  academy  in  the  winter.  After  graduating  from  the 
academy  he  entered  a  business  college  in  San  Francisco,  in  the 
fall  of  1878,  and  completed  his  course  there  the  next  spring. 

With  a  capital  of  $103  he  started  out  on  his  business  ca- 
reer in  1879,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  engaged  in 
merchandising  in  Yoncalla,  in  Douglas  County,  Oregon,  with 
a  brother.  For  nearly  six  years  he  remained  there  and  during 
this  time  had  his  first  experience  in  handling  lumber,  buying 
a  little  here  and  there  from  small  log  mills  in  the  vicinity  and 
selling  it  in  the  larger  towns.  In  1883,  when  the  Oregon  & 
California  Railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  great  Southern  Pacific 
System,  was  being  built  through  southern  Oregon,  between 
Roseburg,  Oregon,  and  Redding,  California,  Mr.  Booth  fur- 
or 


58  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

nished  considerable  of  the  material  required  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  road.  He  bought  and  operated  a  little  sawmill  at 
that  time. 

In  1885  he  sold  the  general  store  that  he  was  then  running 
at  Yoncalla,  Oregon,  and  his  sawmill,  and  moved  to  Drain,  in 
the  same  county,  and  was  elected  vice  president  of  the  Drain 
Academy  and  Normal  School.  This  work  left  him  leisure 
time  in  the  evenings,  and,  being  ambitious,  for  a  time  he 
taught  a  class  in  a  commercial  college  at  night.  He  was  elected 
president  of  the  academy  the  next  year  and  held  this  position 
until  1888,  when  he  resigned  and  went  to  Grants  Pass,  in 
Josephine  County,  southern  Oregon,  where  he  became  book- 
keeper for  the  Sugar  Pine  Door  &  Lumber  Company.  This 
concern  at  that  time  was  not  large,  its  business  being  almost 
entirely  local.  For  a  year  and  a  half  he  had  charge  of  the 
office.  During  the  latter  part  of  1889  he  organized  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Southern  Oregon,  and  in  January,  1890,  it 
began  business  with  Mr.  Booth  as  its  cashier,  which  place  he 
held  for  ten  years  and  was  then  elected  its  president,  a  position 
which  he  now  holds.  The  bank  started  with  a  capital  of 
$50,000,  but  it  has  grown  rapidly  and  is  one  of  the  largest 
financial  institutions  of  southern  Oregon. 

When  fire  destroyed  the  plant  of  the  Sugar  Pine  Door  & 
Lumber  Company  at  Grants  Pass,  in  1889,  Mr.  Booth  went  to 
work  and  reorganized  the  company,  becoming  a  stockholder, 
director  and  its  secretary.  Also  with  him  in  the  reorganization 
of  the  company  were  J.  F.  Kelly  and  George  H.  Kelly,  brothers, 
who  were,  prior  to  that,  employees  of  the  concern,  and  who 
have  since  been  associates  of  Mr.  Booth  in  the  Booth-Kelly 
Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Booth  was  made  manager  of  the 
reorganized  company  and  he  divided  his  time  between  the 
bank  and  the  affairs  of  the  mill. 

A  lease  on  the  little  sawmill  plant  of  J.  I.  Jones,  at  Saginaw, 
Lane  County,  together  with  an  option  for  its  purchase,  was 
obtained  in  1897  by  Mr.  Booth,  his  brother  and  the  two  Kellys. 
The  following  year  they  executed  their  right  of  purchase  and 


ROBERT  A.  BOOTH  59 

incorporated  the  Booth-Kelly  Lumber  Company,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $50,000.  Soon  afterward  they  added  to  their  holdings 
of  timber  land  in  that  vicinity  and  erected  a  second  sawmill 
which  gave  the  company  a  total  capacity  of  100,000  feet  of 
lumber  a  day.  Previous  to  this  time,  at  Grants  Pass,  as  stock- 
holders of  the  Sugar  Pine  Door  &  Lumber  Company,  they 
had  engaged  in  manufacturing  sugar  and  white  pine  lumber. 
The  Booth-Kelly  Lumber  Company  was  strictly  a  fir,  or  Oregon 
pine,  concern.  In  1898,  owing  to  its  business  holdings  being 
enlarged,  the  Booth-Kelly  Lumber  Company's  capital  was 
increased  to  $250,000  and  the  following  year  it  was  further 
increased  to  $1,000,000.  Another  sawmill,  at  Coburg,  was 
leased  in  1898  and  the  plant  subsequently  was  purchased.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  following  year  the  company  went  into 
negotiations  with  the  Southern  Pacific  Company  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  a  line  extend  from  Springfield  to  the  company's 
land  on  the  Mohawk  River,  in  Lane  County.  The  terminus 
of  the  Hne  was  called  Wendling.  At  WendHng  the  company 
built  a  large,  complete  and  modern  sawmill  plant,  equipped 
with  the  latest  and  best  machinery,  together  with  a  planing 
mill,  dry  kilns  and  sheds. 

In  1901  the  company  purchased  a  sawmill  at  Springfield, 
Oregon,  and  one  at  Harrisburg,  Linn  County.  As  the  com- 
pany's holdings  increased  rapidly  it  was  found  necessary  to  in- 
crease its  capital,  and  in  December,  1901,  the  capital  was  made 
$1,250,000.  With  its  mills  at  Springfield  and  Harrisburg  the 
company  has  a  capacity  of  1,000,000  feet  daily.  In  May  of 
1902  the  company  closed  a  deal  whereby  it  secured  the  own- 
ership of  the  Oregon  Central  Military  Road  grant,  covering 
some  of  the  finest  timber  in  Oregon.  Prior  to  November  i, 
1899,  Mr.  Booth  was  a  director  of  the  Booth-Kelly  Lumber 
Company,  but  is  now  its  manager. 

In  1902  Mr.  Booth  organized  the  Oregon  Land  &  Live 
Stock  Company  and  became  its  president  and  manager,  a 
position  he  still  retains.  This  company  owns  about  700,000 
acres  of  land   in   southeastern  Oregon,   of  which  more   than 


6o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

one-seventh,  or  100,000  acres,  is  covered  v^ith  fine  soft  pine. 

Mr.  Booth,  in  December,  1901,  in  conjunction  with  others, 
bought  the  Douglas  County  Bank,  at  Roseburg,  of  which  he 
is  president.  He  also  is  vice  president  of  the  Grants  Pass 
Banking  &  Trust  Company.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Northwest  Door  Company,  of  Portland,  and  is  the  owner  of 
considerable  farm  land  in  southern  Oregon. 

Mr.  Booth  is  an  active  worker  in  the  Republican  party  of 
Oregon,  having  been  a  delegate  to  every  state  convention  since 
he  was  old  enough  to  vote,  and  was  chairman  of  the  Republican 
state  convention  in  April,  1902,  at  which  time  he  declined  the 
urgent  invitation  of  his  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for 
Governor.  He  attended  the  Republican  National  Convention 
in  St.  Louis,  in  1896,  as  a  delegate  from  Oregon.  In  1900  he 
was  elected  a  state  senator  from  the  sixth  senatorial  district, 
embracing  Douglas,  Josephine  and  Lane  counties,  for  a  term 
of  four  years.  He  was  reelected  to  the  same  position  at  the 
end  of  his  first  term,  four  years  later. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
for  nearly  twenty  years  has  been  a  superintendent  in  its  Sunday 
school.  At  present  he  is  a  member  of  the  Humphrey  Memo- 
rial Church,  at  Eugene.  He  represented  the  laymen  of  the 
Oregon  Conference  at  the  General  Conference  held  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  in  1896,  and  again  at  the  session  held  at  Los  An- 
geles, California,  in  1904.  He  was  appointed  by  the  Board  of 
Bishops  of  the  church  in  1905  as  a  member  of  a  commission  on 
the  unification  of  the  publishing  interests  of  the  church.  He 
is  a  regent  of  the  Central  Oregon  Normal  School,  at  Drain. 

Mr.  Booth  married  Miss  Clitona  La  Raut,  of  Douglas 
County.  The  couple  has  had  four  children,  three  of  whom 
survive — two  sons  and  one  daughter — Roy,  Floyd  and  Barbara 
Booth. 


Georff' 


In 


vi^ooi*-ii    n  t 


.of 

young 
f  mndcratt -  -i,  who,  by  care- 

ss and  by  p.  ,;ence,  have  pushed 

.      .^  f  «n  a  busincbi,    .  >^,       A  type  of  the  suc- 

iia  entcrpr.^.M^  exploiters  of  the  wonderful  forests  of 
the  Golden  State  is  George  Xavier  Wendling,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, California. 

He  is  a  man  still  comparatively  youiJi 
already  made  his  mark  as  a  lumberman,     f 
to  the  class  which  has  recently  engaged 
fornia,  yet  he  is  not  one  of  the  old  time 

ver  country 
I  ut  piuck  and  unt 
dmt  of  per  c  and  careful  atte; 

widely. 


une  who  has 

'  not  h  '      cr 

ess  in  v^aii- 

rig  gone  from 

dbout  eighteen 

energy,  and  by 

his  business  has 


V  York  September 
i  a  trace  of  French 


yards  at 

was  manager.     I 

three  years  and 


are 
-  .  :cc  for 
ni  thp  retail 


o 


Hl_iai/I3\A/     F^3IVAX     3 


georqe:   xavier   weindl-inq 


George  X.  Wendling 


In  the  newer  lumber  producing  sections  of  the  country  that 
have  been  opened  up  in  comparatively  recent  years,  the 
younger  generation  of  lumbermen  has  found  the  needed  op- 
portunity for  distinguishing  itself.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
the  Pacific  Coast,  v^here  there  are  many  instances  of  young 
men,  originally  of  moderate  means,  or  none  at  all,  who,  by  care- 
ful attention  to  business  and  by  proper  diligence,  have  pushed 
themselves  to  the  front  in  a  business  way.  A  type  of  the  suc- 
cessful and  enterprising  exploiters  of  the  wonderful  forests  of 
the  Golden  State  is  George  Xavier  Wendling,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, California. 

He  is  a  man  still  comparatively  young,  but  one  who  has 
already  made  his  mark  as  a  lumberman.  He  does  not  belong 
to  the  class  which  has  recently  engaged  in  business  in  Cali- 
fornia, yet  he  is  not  one  of  the  old  timers,  having  gone  from 
the  middle  West  to  the  newer  country  only  about  eighteen 
years  ago.  He  is  full  of  pluck  and  untiring  energy,  and  by 
dint  of  perseverance  and  careful  attention  to  his  business  has 
extended  his  interests  widely. 

George  X.  Wendling  was  born  in  New  York  September 
12,  1861.  Away  back  in  his  family  tree  is  a  trace  of  French 
blood,  though  it  is  so  remote  that  Mr.  Wendling  rightly  claims 
to  be  what  is  commonly  termed  a  "Yankee."  His  parents 
moved  to  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1864,  where  he  grew  up  and  at- 
tended the  common  schools.  His  lumber  experience  dates 
from  the  time  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  had  not 
acquired  much  of  an  education  when  he  entered  the  employ 
of  the  C.  W.  Goodlander  Lumber  Company  in  one  of  its  retail 
yards  at  Weir  City,  eastern  Kansas,  of  which  George  E.  Ware 
was  manager.  He  worked  about  the  yard  and  in  the  office  for 
three  years  and  then  became  assistant  manager  of  the  retail 

61 


62  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

yard  of  the  Long-Bell  Lumber  Company  at  Cherryvale,  Kan- 
sas, where  Mr.  Ware  was  manager,  remaining  there  less  than 
a  year.  He  then  was  made  manager  of  the  Long-Bell  Lumber 
Company's  yard  at  Walnut,  Kansas,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  being  then  transferred  to  another  yard  of  the  company 
at  Caldwell,  Kansas. 

His  early  experience  was,  therefore,  along  the  lines  of 
managing  and  conducting  retail  lumber  yards  in  Kansas  during 
the  years  when  the  Sunflower  State  was  growing  and  consum- 
ing a  vast  amount  of  lumber.  This  experience  proved  very 
valuable  to  Mr.  Wendling,  so  when  in  January,  1888,  he  went 
to  California,  it  was  but  natural  that  he  should  engage  in  the 
retail  lumber  business,  his  first  connection  being  with  the  firm 
of  Prescott  &  Pierce,  retail  lumbermen  at  Fresno.  After 
spending  two  and  a  half  years  with  that  firm  Mr.  WendHng 
decided  to  engage  in  business  for  himself,  and  his  plans  re- 
sulted in  the  formation  of  the  WendHng  Lumber  Company,  at 
Hanford,  California.  E.  H.  Cox,  now  manager  of  the  Madera 
Sugar  Pine  Company,  Madera,  California,  was  president  of  the 
Wendling  Lumber  Company  and  Mr.  Wendling  was  its  vice 
president  and  manager.  The  concern  had  a  capital  of  |ioo,ooo. 
Associated  in  this  company  were  Messrs.  Cross  and  Augsbury. 

The  Wendling  Lumber  Company  established  yards  at  Han- 
ford, Armona,  Bakersfield  and  Kern.  These  yards  were  situ- 
ated in  central  California  in  a  great  fruit  growing  region  with 
a  large  market  for  fruit  boxes,  and  the  company  supplied  a 
large  part  of  the  demand  for  this  material,  becoming  interested  in 
the  box  business  in  this  way.  February  10,  1897,  Mr.  Wendling 
assumed  the  management  of  the  Pine  Box  Manufacturers' 
Agency,  which  had  just  been  organized  by  a  large  number  of 
the  pine  box  manufacturers  of  the  State.  His  experience  in 
handUng  boxes  was  of  great  value  to  the  new  organization, 
which  he  had  assisted  in  forming,  and  during  the  time  he  was 
manager  he  developed  its  business,  worked  out  its  tariffs  and 
systematized  its  affairs  so  that  when  he  resigned  the  manage- 
ment, November  4,  1899,  in  order  to  devote  more  of  his  time 


GEORGE  X.  WENDLING  63 

to  his  own  personal  interests,  the  organization  was  in  excellent 
running  order. 

In  May,  1904,  the  Pine  Box  Manufacturers' Agency  was 
reorganized  and  formed  into  the  California  Pine  Box  &  Lum- 
ber Company,  of  which  Mr.  Wendling  was  elected  first  vice 
president.  Mr.  Wendling  is  president  of  the  Pacific  Door 
Association,  which  was  organized  in  November,  1905,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  the  entire  production  of  the  manufacture  of 
stock  doors  for  eastern  shipments. 

On  leaving  the  box  agency  Mr.  Wendling  reorganized  the 
Wendling  Lumber  Company  and  increased  its  capital  to 
$500,000,  of  which  $200,000  was  issued  and  paid  in.  He  and 
his  associates,  Messrs.  Cross  and  Augsbury,  bought  the  in- 
terest of  Mr.  Cox  in  the  company  and  Mr.  Wendling  then 
became  its  president.  Since  the  early  part  of  1900  the  Wend- 
ling Lumber  Company  has  paid  particular  attention  to  building 
up  an  extensive  carload  business  in  redwood,  California  pine 
and  northern  fir  lumber  and  redwood  shingles.  Early  in  1902 
Mr.  Wendling  and  C.  M.  Cross  bought  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Augsbury,  and  sold  to  Mr.  Augsbury  the  company's  retail 
yards  in  Bakersfield  and  Kern.  Mr.  Wendling  is  president 
of  the  company  and  the  other  officers  are  C.  M.  Cross,  vice 
president,  and  H.  Nathan,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

During  the  last  two  years  Mr.  Wendling  has  acquired  several 
other  lumber  interests,  among  which  is  the  Stearns  Lumber 
Company,  of  which  he  is  vice  president.  This  concern  was 
organized  in  May,  1905,  with  an  authorized  capital  of  $300,000, 
of  which  all  the  stock  is  paid  in.  The  company  has  a  saw  and 
shingle  mill  at  Wendling,  Mendocino  County,  California,  cut- 
ing  60,000  feet  of  redwood  lumber  and  200,000  shingles  a  day. 

In  April,  1903,  Mr.  Wendling  was  instrumental  in  organ- 
izing the  Weed  Lumber  Company,  of  which  he  is  president. 
This  company  is  capitalized  at  $2,000,000,  of  which  $1,300,000 
in  stock  has  been  issued.  C.  M.  Cross  is  vice  president  of  the 
company  and  H.  Nathan,  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  com- 
pany is  the  owner  of  75,000  acres  of  timber  land  covered  en- 


64  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tirely  with  white  pine  and  having  many  miles  of  standard  gauge 
logging  railroad.  The  company's  timber  is  free  from  fir,  being 
probably  the  only  tract  of  this  size  in  the  State  which  runs  ex- 
clusively to  white  pine.  The  sawmills,  with  a  capacity  of 
60,000,000  feet  annually,  are  located  at  Weed,  Siskiyou  County, 
California,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway.  The  plant  con- 
sists of  two  sawmills  with  a  combined  capacity  of  250,000  feet 
of  lumber  a  day.  In  addition  the  company  has  a  box  factory, 
with  a  daily  capacity  of  100,000  feet,  and  a  sash  and  door 
factory  with  a  daily  output  of  1,000  doors,  2,000  windows  and 
60,000  feet  of  boxes. 

Mr.  Wendling  has  applied  his  forceful,  energetic  mind  to  a 
study  of  the  lumber  industry  in  all  its  ramifications.  Nothing 
connected  with  any  phase  of  it  is  too  small  or  too  large  to 
escape  his  attention.  His  careful  analysis  of  the  conditions  of 
the  present  and  his  thorough  understanding  of  the  contingen- 
cies or  the  possibilities  of  the  future  have  contributed  much 
toward  his  success.  He  is  cautious  in  taking  up  any  new  en- 
terprise, but,  once  having  consented  to  engage  in  any  under- 
taking, is  an  indefatigable  worker  for  its  success.  His  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  is  not  based  upon  superficial  observation 
but  is  the  result  of  his  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  the 
industry,  and  his  varied  personal  experience  covering  every 
inch  of  the  ground  from  the  time  the  lumber  is  manufactured 
until  it  is  sold  to  the  consumer. 


> 


^ 


Jacob 


\ 


In  th 

1 


^.c,  was  drawn 
i  he  operation  over 
which  he  toiled  and  i  he  brought  to  the  first  stages  of 

success,  lives  as  a  fitting  monument  to  his  achievements.  This 
pioneer  was  Jacob  Green  Jackson,  of  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, who  passed  away  April  17,  1901,  at  the  ripe  age  of 
eighty-four  years. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  the  vast  wealth  in  the 
redwood  forests  and  was  a^  :  earliest  to  draw  upon  this 

•  operations  which  he  s  i 

i  ly  which  he  later  org.  < 

arp  ^      y  under  the  competent  m. 

r   who  has  been  able  to  bring  to  a  su 
ns  and  purposes  of  h^r  m'oneer  p-..  ... 
was  born  March  it,   .    .7,  at  E^m  ^^ 
.nr?  — irnc  of  Re' '-^"tionary  stock.     ..  . 


I    1  mi   >-vii.ii    I 


whcrt 
and  s 
charge  of  t 
being  advar^^ 


JAOOB     GREEN     JACKSON 


Jacob  G.  Jackson 


In  the  pioneer  days  of  California,  with  the  gold  seekers 
who  were  flocking  to  the  newly  discovered  Eldorado  went 
others  who  engaged  in  business  in  the  new  country  between 
the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  and  the  sea.  Among  these  gold 
hunters  was  a  man  who,  by  untoward  circumstance,  was  drawn 
into  the  lumber  manufacturing  business.  The  operation  over 
which  he  toiled  and  which  he  brought  to  the  first  stages  of 
success,  lives  as  a  fitting  monument  to  his  achievements.  This 
pioneer  was  Jacob  Green  Jackson,  of  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, who  passed  away  April  17,  1901,  at  the  ripe  age  of 
eighty-four  years. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  the  vast  wealth  in  the 
redwood  forests  and  was  among  the  earliest  to  draw  upon  this 
virgin  resource  of  nature.  The  operations  which  he  started 
forty-five  years  ago  and  the  company  which  he  later  organized 
are  carrying  on  business  today  under  the  competent  manage- 
ment of  his  daughter,  who  has  been  able  to  bring  to  a  success- 
ful conclusion  the  plans  and  purposes  of  her  pioneer  parent. 

Jacob  G.  Jackson  was  born  March  16,  1817,  at  East  St. 
Johnsbury,  Vermont,  and  came  of  Revolutionary  stock.  His 
father  was  Elijah  Jackson,  and  his  grandfather  Samuel  Jackson, 
who  fought  bravely  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  with  the  pa- 
triots. His  father  lived  to  be  ninety-six  years  of  age,  and  Jacob 
G.  Jackson  died  at  a  younger  age  than  any  of  his  brothers. 
His  people  were  farmers,  but  by  the  early  death  of  his  mother 
he  was  sent  to  live  with  an  aunt  in  Maine,  where  he  received 
some  schooling.  Later,  he  went  to  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
where  his  brother,  Samuel  Jackson,  was  engaged  in  the  coal 
and  shipping  business.  At  sixteen  years  of  age  he  was  in 
charge  of  the  transportation  end  of  the  business,  subsequently 
being  advanced  to  the  position  of  agent,  buyer  and  shipper  of 

65 


66  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

coal  between  Philadelphia  and  Providence.  Mr.  Jackson 
later  became  a  resident  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  a  manufacturer  of  rubber.  After  losing  his  plant  by  fire, 
he  disposed  of  his  patents  and  the  secrets  of  his  process  of 
manufacture  to  the  Goodyear  interests,  and,  in  December, 
185 1,  went  to  California,  crossing  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
The  responsibilities  assumed  so  early  in  life  formed  a  character 
at  once  enterprising  and  self-reliant,  with  a  matured  under- 
standing and  judgment,  which,  though  methodical  and  slow, 
was  sure  and  safe  in  all  business  ventures. 

His  brother,  Samuel  Randall  Jackson,  had  preceded  him 
to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  when  Jacob  G.  Jackson  arrived  in 
California,  intending  to  go  into  another  business,  he  found 
that  his  brother,  who  had  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  shipping 
business  with  Asa  M.  Simpson,  had  been  on  a  vessel  which  was 
wrecked  along  the  northern  coast,  and  was  supposed  to  have 
lost  his  life.  So  Jacob  G.  Jackson  took  his  brother's  place  in 
the  business,  and  the  firm  remained  Simpson  &  Jackson. 
Although  Samuel  R.  Jackson  subsequently  returned  alive,  he 
soon  left  for  his  old  home  in  the  East  and  Jacob  G.  continued 
in  the  lumber  business  with  Mr.  Simpson.  He  made  a  voy- 
age to  Australia  with  a  cargo  of  lumber  on  one  of  the  firm's 
vessels,  and,  losing  the  master  there,  Mr.  Jackson  sailed  the 
vessel  back  to  San  Francisco  in  command.  He  thus  acquired 
the  title  of  captain,  which  was  thereafter  accorded  him  through 
life.  He  also  shipped  a  cargo  to  British  Columbia  during  the 
mining  excitement  on  the  Eraser  River  in  the  early  days  and 
there  remained  in  business  for  a  time. 

In  1861,  Captain  Jackson  severed  his  connection  with 
Mr.  Simpson,  and  with  two  men,  Messrs.  Kelly  and  Rundell, 
entered  into  a  partnership  to  manufacture  lumber  in  Mendo- 
cino County,  California,  north  of  San  Francisco,  on  Caspar 
Creek.  A  few  months  after  this  enterprise  was  inaugurated 
he  bought  the  interests  of  his  associates,  and,  in  1862,  com- 
pleted the  sawmill  and  began  producing  redwood  lumber,  the 
concern  being  known  as  the  Caspar  Lumber  Company.     The 


JACOB  G.  JACKSON  67 

mill  was  located  at  a  point  on  the  Coast  called  Caspar,  at  the 
mouth  of  Caspar  Creek.  In  November,  1881,  the  company 
was  incorporated  with  a  capitalization  of  $400,000,  but  Captain 
Jackson  continued  almost  the  sole  owner  until  his  death. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Captain  Jackson,  in  1901,  the  presi- 
dency of  the  company  was  assumed  by  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Abbie  E.  Krebs,  who  is  still  the  executive  head  of  the  con- 
cern. The  Caspar  Lumber  Company,  which  Captain  Jackson 
founded,  has  a  double  band  mill  at  Caspar,  with  a  daily 
capacity  of  100,000  feet  of  redwood  lumber,  and  a  railroad 
about  fifteen  miles  long  connecting  the  plant  with  the  80,000 
acres  of  redwood  timber  land  owned  by  the  company,  and  of 
which  30,000  acres  have  not  yet  been  invaded  by  the  logger. 
The  railroad  in  recent  years  has  been  extended  out  on  the 
south  fork  of  the  Noyo  River,  and,  in  order  to  reach  timber 
that  will  last  the  mill  forty  years,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
construct  a  tunnel  800  feet  long,  mostly  through  rock,  at  a 
cost  of  $80,000.  The  road  is  known  as  the  Caspar,  South 
Fork  &  Eastern  Railway,  of  which  Mrs.  Krebs  is  president. 

The  company  owns  two  steam  schooners — the  South  Coast 
and  the  Samoa — which  are  used  in  transporting  lumber  from 
Caspar  to  San  Francisco  Bay,  a  distance  of  128  miles,  and  also  to 
southern  California  ports.  The  lumber  is  loaded  on  the  ves- 
sels by  a  wire  chute  from  a  cliff,  the  topography  of  the  ground 
and  harbor  making  this  method  the  most  practicable  one. 
The  company  has  two  merchandise  stores,  and  is  well  equip- 
ped in  every  way  to  manufacture  lumber  on  a  large  scale. 
Since  Mrs.  Krebs  has  had  the  management  of  the  company 
its  timber  land  holdings  have  been  greatly  increased,  thus 
bringing  the  Caspar  Lumber  Company  to  the  front  rank  of 
producers.  The  business  has  been  expanded  commensurately 
by  interests  secured  in  allied  capitalized  companies,  organized 
and  conducted  for  the  milling,  manufacture  and  more  ex- 
tended sale  of  redwood  lumber  and  its  kindred  products  in 
the  California  and  eastern  markets.  A  progressive  and  enter- 
prising spirit,  combined  with  thorough  business  acumen,  has 


68  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

earned  for  Mrs.  Krebs  the  approval  and  esteem  of  the  oldest 
and  ablest  lumbermen  on  the  Coast.  She  is  credited  with 
knowing  the  business  and  conducting  it  in  a  businesslike 
manner.  She  participates  as  a  member  of  several  boards  of 
directors  in  the  decisions  of  affairs  involving  large  vested 
interests,  to  the  marked  satisfaction  of  her  conferees  and  com- 
manding their  respect  as  an  entire  equal  in  business  ability 
and  experience. 

This  expansion  of  the  field  of  distribution  of  redwood  is  a 
realization  of  Captain  Jackson's  earlier  ideas,  which  naturally 
find  an  enthusiastic  exponent  in  the  daughter,  who  is  en- 
dowed with  so  many  of  the  personal  qualities  of  her  father. 
The  offices  of  the  Caspar  Lumber  Company  are  on  the  eighth 
floor  of  the  Kohl  Building,  San  Francisco,  and  the  president's 
private  office  is  always  accessible  to  those  having  business. 

While  a  resident  of  Providence,  Captain  Jackson,  in  1840, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years,  married  Miss  Elvenia  D. 
Durgin,  of  Sanbornton  Bridge,  New  Hampshire. 


Daniel  H    \, wen 


Persf 


^rtpnrr 


»*  ».'  I   rv 


e  it  not  for 
»w   1-5  ij.i>    >|  dominated 

c  wrought  immtiiat  m  -^es  which 

iid.vc  icauaauca  to  the  benefit  of  mankiiiu.  n.  ii>  the  spirit 
that  impels  a  man  to  push  forward  where  ^^  -~s  would 
hesitate  at  what  appears  to  be  a  hopeless  undcruKirig  that 
eventually  lifts  him  above  the  rank  and  file  of  ordinary 
thinkers  and  doers.  Daniel  H.  McEwen,  of  San  Francisco, 
California,  belongs  to  this  persevering  class. 

His  life  has  been  one  of  earnestness  of  pi:  and  of 

unfailing  will.     H'^  <  i  'y  existence  was  a  stru  for  he  was 

i  of  the  common  nece  of  e 


49,  at  Wellsboro, 
ing  come  from 


At 

tnw- 


in  a  giv 

Early  in 
country,   ne   ciii  -ai   aiiuj   auvj   >  umiC 


M3W3oM       W     _J3IUiAa 


DANIEL.     H.     McEW/EN 


Daniel  H.  McEwen 


Perseverance  in  the  face  of  great  obstacles  Is  the  power 
that  has  turned  the  wheels  of  progress  in  science,  art  and 
industry.  The  world  would  be  without  the  inestimable 
researches  and  discoveries  in  medicine,  the  invaluable  work 
of  inventors,  engineers,  painters  and  sculptors,  were  it  not  for 
perseverance ;  and  it  is  this  quality  which  has  dominated 
the  men  who  have  wrought  immense  industrial  changes  which 
have  redounded  to  the  benefit  of  mankind.  It  is  the  spirit 
that  impels  a  man  to  push  forward  where  others  would 
hesitate  at  what  appears  to  be  a  hopeless  undertaking  that 
eventually  lifts  him  above  the  rank  and  file  of  ordinary 
thinkers  and  doers.  Daniel  H.  McEwen,  of  San  Francisco, 
California,  belongs  to  this  persevering  class. 

His  life  has  been  one  of  earnestness  of  purpose  and  of 
unfailing  will.  His  early  existence  was  a  struggle,  for  he  was 
a  poor  lad  deprived  of  the  common  necessities  of  education 
and  sustenance,  and  the  success  which  has  attended  his  efforts 
is,  therefore,  all  the  more  remarkable. 

Mr.  McEwen  was  born  February  22,  1849,  at  Wellsboro, 
Tioga  County,  Pennsylvania,  his  father  having  come  from  the 
north  of  Scotland  and  his  mother,  of  English  descent,  being  a 
native  of  Vermont.  When  his  father  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
army,  in  1861,  Daniel,  then  twelve  years  of  age  and  the  eldest 
of  six  sons,  became  the  breadwinner  for  the  family.  For  a 
year  he  worked  in  a  brickyard  at  thirty-five  cents  a  day.  At 
the  age  of  thirteen  he  secured  work  driving  mules  on  the  tow- 
path  of  the  Susquehanna  Canal  from  Williamsport  to  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore.  He  afterward  secured  a  position  as  clerk 
in  a  grocery  store  at  Williamsport. 

Early  in  1865,  believing  his  services  were  needed  by  his 
country,   he   enlisted  in  the    Federal   army  and   served   nine 

68 


70  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

months,  being  mustered  out  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  in 
the  autumn  of  1865. 

The  following  year  his  lumber  experience  began.  For 
three  years  he  worked  in  sawmills  at  Williamsport  by  day  and 
attended  night  schools  in  the  evening,  thus  concurrently 
securing  both  his  lumber  and  his  general  education.  During 
the  winters  he  worked  in  the  woods,  scaling  logs  and  keeping 
time.  In  1870  he  went  to  Annapolis,  Maryland,  where  he 
managed  a  retail  lumber  yard  for  Smith  &  Phillips.  In  1872 
he  returned  to  WilHamsport  and  entered  the  employ  of  Peter 
Herdic,  the  master  mind  of  a  dozen  large  enterprises,  and  was 
general  superintendent  of  his  manufacturing  operations,  look- 
ing after  the  business  from  the  woods  to  the  market.  When 
Mr.  Herdic  failed,  several  years  later,  Mr.  McEwen  lost  all 
his  savings. 

He  was  bitterly  disappointed,  but  not  crushed,  as  he  saw  the 
careful  accumulation  of  years  swept  away  by  a  single  blow. 
His  inherent  manliness  and  perseverance  immediately  asserted 
themselves  and  he  turned  his  back  upon  the  scene  of  the  failure 
and  set  his  eyes  toward  the  more  promising  fields  of  the  West. 
He  went  to  Minnesota  and  became  superintendent  for  the  old 
C.  N.  Nelson  Lumber  Company,  at  Knife  Falls,  now  Cloquet. 
Mr.  McEwen  built  the  first  large  mill  of  the  company  at  that 
point,  as  well  as  the  boom  in  the  St.  Louis  River.  He  also 
laid  out  the  lumber  yard  and  town  site,  where  fifty  houses  were 
built  during  the  four  years  of  his  connection  with  the  firm. 

In  1884  Mr.  McEwen  associated  himself  with  Captain  H. 
M.  Paine  and  William  McNair,  of  MinneapoHs,  Minnesota, 
and  built  and  operated  the  large  water  power  mill  of  the 
Cloquet  Lumber  Company.  In  1885  Mr.  McEwen  disposed 
of  his  interest  to  his  associates  and  moved  to  Duluth.  In  the 
fall  of  1886  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale  lumber  business  and 
in  the  following  year  moved  his  headquarters  to  St.  Paul,  asso- 
ciating himself  with  J.  E.  Glass,  the  firm  being  Glass  & 
McEwen.  Four  years  later  they  moved  to  Minneapolis  and  a 
year  later  dissolved  partnership. 


DANIEL  H.  McEWEN  71 

Mr.  McEwen  then  associated  himself  with  W.  P.  Murray, 
of  Minneapolis,  and  McEwen  &  Murray,  Limited,  built  a  large 
sawmill  in  Louisiana  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cypress 
lumber.  Mr.  McEwen  spent  several  years  in  the  South  in 
charge  of  these  operations.  During  this  time  he  bought  for 
himself  and  his  associates  36,000  acres  of  Louisiana  cypress 
timber  land,  which  has  since  then  been  sold. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  Mr.  McEwen  would  have  continued 
his  operations  in  the  South,  and,  in  time,  have  become  a  leader 
in  production  in  that  section  of  the  country,  had  not  circum- 
stances ordained  another  move.  The  climate  of  the  Gulf 
Coast  did  not  agree  with  the  health  of  his  family,  and,  in  1895, 
rather  than  incur  any  risk,  he  gave  up  manufacturing  and 
went  to  Chicago,  where  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale  lumber 
business.  But  this  change  did  not  bring  about  the  desired 
effect,  and  he  took  his  family  to  southern  California,  where  he 
enjoyed  a  rest  of  two  years,  and  there  he  now  owns  one  of  the 
best  producing  orange  groves  in  that  section. 

During  this  period  Mr.  McEwen  traveled  through  Califor- 
nia and  became  not  only  interested  in  the  timber  resources  of 
the  Coast,  but  impressed  by  the  same,  as  well.  Among  his 
friends  were  several  San  Francisco  and  Sacramento  capitalists 
who  were  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  the  future  in  the  manu- 
facture of  sugar  pine  and  white  pine.  In  1900  Mr.  McEwen 
became  a  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  Eldorado 
Lumber  Company.  This  concern  bought  the  sawmill,  railroad 
and  timber  holdings  of  the  American  River  &  Lumber  Com- 
pany, in  Eldorado  County,  and  Mr.  McEwen  was  made  vice 
president  and  general  manager  by  reason  of  his  experience  in 
the  manufacturing  line.  In  improving  the  property  and  mod- 
ernizing the  operation  he  built  two  sawmills,  a  large  planing 
mill  and  constructed  twelve  miles  of  railroad,  in  addition  to 
establishing  a  fine  lumber  storage  yard.  With  the  new  equip- 
ment the  capacity  was  increased  so  as  to  give  a  daily  output  of 
100,000  feet  of  lumber. 

Mr.  McEwen  is  the  inventor  and  was  the  constructor  of 


72  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  largest,  highest  and  longest  wire  rope  cable  in  the  world. 
This  gigantic  undertaking  has  been  a  complete  success.  The 
aerial  railway  crosses  the  American  River.  The  cable  is  2,650 
feet  long  and  is  operated  at  an  elevation  of  1,050  feet  above 
the  stream.  A  car  crosses  in  two  and  a  half  minutes,  and  ten 
minutes  is  required  for  the  round  trip,  transporting  6,000  feet 
of  green  lumber.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  to  shift  24,000  feet 
of  lumber  an  hour  from  one  side  of  the  canyon  to  the  other. 
In  the  first  three  years  of  its  operation,  70,000,000  feet  were 
thus  transported  across  the  chasm. 

In  November,  1905,  Mr.  McEwen  incorporated  the  D.  H. 
McEwen  Lumber  Company,  of  San  Francisco,  of  which  he  is 
the  president,  with  mills  in  Sonoma  County,  to  manufacture 
redwood  and  fir  lumber.  He  bought,  during  1905,  125,000,000 
feet  of  redwood  timber,  which  is  the  best  and  nearest  body  of 
first-class  redwood  timber  to  San  Francisco,  being  only  eighty 
miles  distant  from  the  Golden  Gate.  Eight  miles  of  railroad 
permit  of  shipments  being  made  by  rail  and  water. 

Mr.  McEwen  married  in  1875,  in  Pennsylvania,  Miss  Flora 
E.  Else,  and  they  have  a  family  of  three  children,  consisting 
of  two  daughters,  Elsie  and  Josephine,  and  a  son,  Murray 
McEwen.  Mr.  McEwen  retains  his  orange  ranch  in  southern 
California,  but  decided,  for  business  reasons,  to  make  his  per- 
manent home  in  San  Francisco,  and  with  this  object  in  view 
built  a  beautiful  homein  Burlingame,  a  suburb  and  one  of  the 
fashionable  residence  sections  of  California.  He  is  a  great 
lover  of  his  home  and  it  is  there,  surrounded  by  his  family, 
that  he  finds  his  greatest  enjoyment  in  life. 


w 


>»  < 


Althc 
national! ' 
of  ? 

d  pressure  is  it 
■'   renders  it  c 

>on,  and,  as  tiinc  i% 
worth  more  than  i  else  on  the  market,  he  who  can 

save  any  of  this  valuable  adjunct  to  success  finds  those  who 
recognize  his  worth  and  are  willing  to  pay  its  equivalent. 
One  who  has  recognized  the  value  of  time  and  who  has  prof- 
ited thereby  is  William  Daniel  Wadley  of  San  Francisco, 
California. 

Although  he  is  yet  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  meridian  of 
life,  Mr.  Wadley  is  a  remarkable  man  in  many  respects.  His 
has   not  been   a  life   made   easy  by  a  rich,  indulgent  father. 

)n  never  has  shed  its  baleful  influ- 
g  his  efforts  of  their  individuality; 
barefooted  boy,  driving  a  sawdust 
fnrrp  in  onp  nf  the  largest  lum- 
ber cen  the  archi- 
f 

iJCiUlC     tilC 

'  part,  hav- 

of  the  Con- 

f  c  of  the  war  the 

c  the 
senior  men  t   in  ire  of 

lumber  in   coni  the  Allen 


WIL.l_«AM     DANIEL.    WADLEIY 


William  D.  Wadley 


Although  all  Americans,  and  the  intelligent  of  most  other 
nationalities,  are  willing  to  grant  to  the  plodder  the  measure 
of  success  consistent  with  the  effort  put  forth,  still  there  is  a 
disposition  in  the  business  world  to  demand  immediate  returns 
for  expended  energy.  A  decided  pressure  is  felt  in  the  mod- 
ern manner  of  doing  business,  which  renders  it  difficult  for 
the  plodder  to  keep  up  with  the  procession,  and,  as  time  is 
worth  more  than  anything  else  on  the  market,  he  who  can 
save  any  of  this  valuable  adjunct  to  success  finds  those  who 
recognize  his  worth  and  are  wiUing  to  pay  its  equivalent. 
One  who  has  recognized  the  value  of  time  and  who  has  prof- 
ited thereby  is  WiUiam  Daniel  Wadley  of  San  Francisco, 
California. 

Although  he  is  yet  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  meridian  of 
life,  Mr.  Wadley  is  a  remarkable  man  in  many  respects.  His 
has  not  been  a  life  made  easy  by  a  rich,  indulgent  father. 
The  proverbial  golden  spoon  never  has  shed  its  baleful  influ- 
ences over  his  life,  robbing  his  efforts  of  their  individuality; 
but  from  the  time  he  was  a  barefooted  boy,  driving  a  sawdust 
cart,  until  today,  as  the  active  force  in  one  of  the  largest  lum- 
bering enterprises  in  the  Golden  State,  he  has  been  the  archi- 
tect as  well  as  the  builder  of  his  own  fortune. 

WilHam  D.  Wadley  is  a  product  of  Arkansas.  D.  M. 
Wadley,  the  grandfather  of  W.  D.  Wadley,  moved  from 
Jackson,  Tennessee,  to  Marshall,  Texas,  shortly  before  the 
Civil  War,  in  which  struggle  he  bore  an  important  part,  hav- 
ing been  in  charge  of  the  gunpowder  works  of  the  Con- 
federates at  Marshall.  Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war  the 
Wadley  family  moved  to  Arkadelphia,  Arkansas,  where  the 
senior  member  of  the  house  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
lumber  in    connection   with  several  members   of   the  Allen 


73 


74  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

family,  among  the  latter  being  H.  J.  Allen,  W.  B.  Allen, 
E.  T.  Allen  and  one  or  two  others.  W.  D.  Wadley's  father, 
W.  G.  Wadley,  the  son  of  the  powdermaker,  assisted  his 
father  in  the  operation  of  the  mill.  The  relations  between 
the  two  families  who  owned  and  operated  the  mill  were  very 
close  and  became  more  intimate  after  the  marriage  of  W.  G. 
Wadley  and  Miss  Emily  Allen.  Born  to  this  couple,  on 
August  30,  1872,  was  a  son,  WiUiam  Daniel  Wadley.  The 
parents  of  the  child  resided  at  Arkadelphia  at  this  time  and 
continued  to  live  there  until  the  boy  was  a  healthy  lad  of  five 
summers. 

In  1877  Allen  Bros,  moved  their  planing  mill  to  Texar- 
kana,  and  it  was  there  that  the  Wadley  family  took  up  its 
residence  and  where  young  William  laid  the  foundation  for 
his  education,  passing  creditable  examinations  in  the  grammar 
and  high  school  of  Texarkana.  A  few  years  later — 1885 — 
Allen  Bros,  built  a  sawmill  and  a  planing  mill  at  Queen  City, 
Texas,  about  two  miles  northeast  of  Atlanta,  Texas,  on  the 
Texas  &  Pacific  Railway. 

Here  began  Mr.  Wadley's  first  active  connection  with  the 
production  of  lumber,  and  since  then  he  has  been  steadily 
engaged  in  the  industry.  His  services  at  the  plants  of  Allen 
Bros,  embraced  labor  in  every  department.  After  his  gradu- 
ation from  the  station  of  a  sawdust  cart  driver  he  was  given  a 
position  as  fireman  on  his  father's  locomotive,  which  pulled  a 
train  on  one  of  the  first  logging  roads  built  in  that  part  of 
Texas.  About  this  time,  between  1885  and  1887,  a  partner- 
ship was  entered  into  between  the  senior  Wadley  and  Allen 
Bros.,  the  firm  taking  the  title  of  Allen  Bros.  &  Wadley. 

Young  Wadley  continued  in  the  employ  of  the  firm  and 
gradually  worked  his  way  up  through  the  successive  stages  of 
lumber  manufacture,  serving  as  feeder  of  the  planing  machine, 
as  a  grader  and  in  numerous  other  capacities.  His  work  was 
interrupted  in  1887  in  order  that  he  might  take  a  course  in 
methods  of  transacting  business,  which  was  studied  at  Draugh- 
ton's  Business  College,  at  Atlanta,  Texas.    After  finishing  this 


WILLIAM  D.  WADLEY  75 

course  he  returned  to  Queen  City,  where  he  kept  the  books 
for  the  firm  until  the  scarcity  of  its  timber  supply  compelled 
the  seeking  of  a  new  location  to  carry  on  operations.  Allen- 
town,  Louisiana,  was  decided  upon,  and  in  1891  the  firm  was 
actively  engaged  in  operating  its  plant  at  that  place.  The 
town  is  located  on  the  Louisiana  &  Nickel  Plate  road,  forming 
a  line  of  communication  from  the  Vicksburg,  Shreveport  & 
Pacific,  at  Wadley  Junction,  to  a  point  a  few  miles  north  of 
Allentown. 

Young  Wadley's  business  education  was  supplemented  by 
a  special  course  at  the  Southeastern  University,  at  Georgetown, 
Texas,  which  was  completed  in  1892.  Upon  his  return  to 
Allentown,  although  only  twenty  years  of  age,  he  assumed 
complete  charge  of  the  office  of  the  firm,  in  which  he  had 
secured  an  interest  several  years  before.  No  change  in  the 
personnel  of  the  firm  took  place  until  1894,  when  the  style  was 
changed  to  Allen  Bros.  &  Wadley,  Limited,  which  company 
was  organized  with  W.  D.  Wadley  as  secretary  and  treasurer. 

Notwithstanding  the  demands  on  his  time  in  consequence 
of  his  official  position  with  the  company,  Mr.  Wadley  was 
able  in  the  succeeding  years  to  help  organize  and  keep  in 
operation  two  other  companies  as  well.  One  of  these  was  the 
Bienville  Lumber  Company,  which  was  organized,  in  1900,  at 
Alberta,  Louisiana,  a  town  twenty-two  miles  southeast  of  Sibley, 
at  the  intersection  of  the  Louisiana  &  Arkansas  Railway  with 
the  tracks  of  the  Vicksburg,  Shreveport  &  Pacific.  Mr. 
Wadley  was  president  of  this  company,  which  operated  a  mill 
with  a  capacity  of  75,000  feet  of  lumber  daily.  In  1901  he  was 
instrumental  in  organizing  the  Allen-Wadley  Lumber  Com- 
pany to  do  a  wholesale  business  for  the  purpose  of  disposing 
of  the  cut  of  the  mills  at  Alberta  and  Allentown.  He  was 
president  of  this  concern  also. 

The  scene  of  Mr.  Wadley's  greatest  success  and  also  of  his 
present  activities  is  laid  in  California.  The  possibilities  in  the 
great  redwood  country  attracted  his  attention  and  in  1903  he 
secured  an  interest  in  what  is  now  the  Empire  Redwood  Com- 


76  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

pany.  The  officers  of  the  concern  are  C.  T.  Crowell,  president; 
E.  W.  Davies,  vice  president,  and  W.  D.  Wadley,  secretary 
and  treasurer.  The  mill  plant  of  the  company  is  located  at 
Gualala,  Mendocino  County,  California,  the  mills  having  a 
daily  output  of  100,000  feet.  Mr.  Wadley,  as  manager  of  the 
mill,  has  been  responsible,  in  a  large  measure,  for  the  heavy 
increase  in  the  volume  of  business  since  he  took  hold  of  the 
operations. 

Mr.  Wadley  married  Miss  Mamie  Rogers,  of  Queen  City, 
Texas,  the  sweetheart  of  his  boyhood,  December  12,  1896. 
The  couple  has  one  child,  a  daughter,  born  November  6, 
1898. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Scottish  Rite  bodies  and  is  a  con- 
sistent Mason,  is  a  member  of  the  Albert  Pike  Cathedral, 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  and  of  Sahara  Temple,  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine,  at  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas. 


Cha  th 


The 


■e.  his  li 
>n  he  gives  u  'hin.     As  t^ 

by  good  ends  accon.^ ,  .y  its  order  ». 

tematic  progress  and,  if  it  be  a  work  which  involves  fin». 
matters,  we  judge  of  it  by  the  profits  accruing.     A  man  w 
in  his  own  personality  and  in  the  work  he  has  done,  is  wor- 
of  a  place  in  this  volume  is  Charles  S.  Keith,  of  Kansas  Cit; 
Missouri. 

He  is  the  executive  head  of  one  of  the  largest  lumber  . 
coal  producing  and  distributing  organizations  in  the   Un; 

^ ^       ^         ^    ^    al    &  Coke    Company,  a  corpc 

Dusiness  circles  in  nearly  every  state 

on  of  M 
las  he  b 
repres 

Ci 
City, 
wh' 


sessing  t.  ! 
to  hardship,  so  t. 

was   prepared  to   c  ^   t 

encounter.     The  out^;  ,ncl 


HTI3X      HTIM8     e-^-^/iAHO 


^ 


y 


CHARLEIS    SMIXH     KEITH 


Charles  S.  Keith 


The  man  and  his  work  hang  together.  As  Is  the  man,  so 
is  the  thing  he  does  or  makes.  That  impression  we  get  from 
observing  the  man  and  what  he  does,  separately  or  in  con- 
junction, constitutes  our  estimate  of  his  character.  As  to  the 
man,  we  find  it  in  his  face,  his  attitude,  his  manner  and  what 
expression  he  gives  to  that  which  Hes  within.  As  to  his  work, 
we  judge  it  by  good  ends  accomphshed,  by  its  order  and  sys- 
tematic progress  and,  if  it  be  a  work  which  involves  financial 
matters,  we  judge  of  it  by  the  profits  accruing.  A  man  who, 
in  his  own  personality  and  in  the  work  he  has  done,  is  worthy 
of  a  place  in  this  volume  is  Charles  S.  Keith,  of  Kansas  City, 
Missouri. 

He  is  the  executive  head  of  one  of  the  largest  lumber  and 
coal  producing  and  distributing  organizations  in  the  United 
States — the  Central  Coal  &  Coke  Company,  a  corporation 
favorably  known  in  business  circles  in  nearly  every  state  in  the 
Union.  This  great  company  is  not  the  creation  of  Mr.  Keith, 
for  it  is  older,  in  fact,  than  he  is,  but  so  long  has  he  been  at  its 
head  that  what  it  is  today  very  largely  represents  his  con- 
structive and  directive  ability. 

Charles  Smith  Keith  was  born  January  28,  1873,  in  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  which  city  he  has  always  made  his  home  and 
whose  welfare  he  has  at  heart.  His  father,  the  late  Colonel 
Richard  H.  Keith,  made  Kansas  City  his  home  upon  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  had  served  with  honor  in  the 
army  of  the  Confederacy.  He  had  come  out  of  the  conflict  a 
strong  man,  mentally  and  physically,  and,  in  addition  to  pos- 
sessing the  traits  of  industry  and  perseverance,  he  was  inured 
to  hardship,  so  that  when  he  began  a  modest  coal  business  he 
was  prepared  to  carry  it  on  despite  any  obstacles  he  might 
encounter.     The  outgrowth  of  the  yard  established  by  Colonel 

77 


78  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Keith  on  Buff  Street,  Kansas  City,  in  1871,  is  the  now  great 
Central  Coal  &  Coke  Company. 

In  Charles  S.  Keith's  boyhood  days  there  was  nothing  par- 
ticularly to  mark  his  individuality  beyond  that  of  other  lads  of 
his  period,  unless  it  might  have  been  the  special  energy  and 
enthusiasm  with  which  he  played  the  games  of  youth  during 
the  years  he  studied  in  the  various  grades  of  the  public  schools. 
Subsequently,  he  entered  St.  Mary's  College,  at  St.  Mary's, 
Kansas,  and  completed  his  education  with  a  course  at  Fordham 
University,  Fordham,  New  York.  All  these  years  his  father 
had  been  planning  for  the  young  man's  future,  anxiously 
awaiting  the  day  when  he  might  begin  his  active  training  for 
a  business  career. 

Young  Keith  was  ready  to  begin  his  commercial  life  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  years.  In  1891  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
Central  Coal  &  Coke  Company,  of  which  concern  his  father 
was  president,  and  was  assigned  to  a  clerkship  in  the  auditor's 
office  at  Kansas  City.  He  was  accorded  no  privileges  or  shown 
any  preference  over  his  fellow  employees,  his  father  being 
determined  that  the  young  man  should  make  his  own  way  up 
the  ladder  of  success  by  his  own  ability  and  pluckiness.  Nine 
months'  work  in  the  Kansas  City  office  qualified  Mr.  Keith 
for  duty  at  the  mines  in  Missouri  and  Kansas,  where  he  devoted 
one  year  to  studying  mining  and  practicing  engineering. 
While  nominally  a  clerk,  he  took  advantage  of  every  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  the  practical  side  of  the  business  by  entering 
the  mines  and  studying  every  phase  of  the  operations  that 
came  under  his  observation.  All  the  time  he  was  fitting  him- 
self for  more  responsible  duties  which  would  devolve  upon 
him  when  he  should  prove  capable  of  discharging  them. 

The  first  promotion  came  to  Mr.  Keith  after  he  had  spent 
a  half  year  in  Missouri.  He  was  made  traveling  sales  agent 
of  the  company,  in  which  capacity  he  famiHarized  himself  with 
the  industrial  conditions  of  the  Southwest.  At  the  end  of  three 
years  he  was  again  advanced,  this  time  to  the  position  of 
general   sales   agent   of   the    coal    department.     During   this 


CHARLES  S.  KEITH  79 

period  the  Central  Coal  &  Coke  Company  had  been  acquiring 
title  to  thousands  of  acres  of  yellow  pine  timber  lands  in 
Arkansas  and  Texas.  Mr.  Keith  took  particular  interest  in 
this  branch  of  the  business.  With  his  usual  care  he  studied 
the  field  closely,  learned  the  methods  of  milling  and  reached 
the  conclusion  that  the  lumber  industry  held  almost  unlimited 
possibilities  of  development.  So  thoroughly  did  he  grasp  the 
details  of  the  lumber  business  that,  in  1896,  he  was  appointed 
general  sales  agent  of  the  lumber  department  in  addition  to 
holding  the  same  relative  position  in  the  coal  department. 

Five  years  later  Mr.  Keith  was  made  assistant  general  man- 
ager and  general  sales  agent.  He  was  well  equipped  to  assume 
these  duties,  the  eleven  years  spent  in  the  service  of  the  com- 
pany having  given  him  ample  experience.  In  1902  the 
company  lifted  part  of  the  load  carried  for  so  many  years  by 
Colonel  Keith  as  general  manager,  by  appointing  his  son  to 
that  position.  Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1906,  Mr. 
Keith  became  vice  president  of  the  company,  continuing  in 
the  capacity  of  general  manager  as  well. 

Three  sawmills  are  operated  by  the  Central  Coal  &  Coke 
Company,  these  being  located  respectively  at  Carson,  Cal- 
casieu Parish,  and  Neame,  formerly  Keith,  Vernon  Parish, 
Louisiana,  and  at  Kennard,  Houston  County,  Texas.  The 
latter  mill  is  operated  by  the  Louisiana  &  Texas  Lumber 
Company,  which  is  officered  practically  the  same  as  is  the 
Central  Coal  &  Coke  Company.  It  is  on  the  Eastern  Texas 
Railroad,  thirty  miles  west  of  Lufkin,  and  in  what  is  conceded 
to  be  the  finest  shortleaf  yellow  pine  timber  belt  in  the  Lone 
Star  State.  The  mill  has  a  daily  capacity  of  250,000  feet,  and 
is  cutting  on  170,000  acres  of  timber  owned  by  the  company. 
The  two  Louisiana  plants  are  in  the  famous  Calcasieu  longleaf 
yellow  pine  district.  The  Carson  mill  is  equipped  with  a  band, 
circular  and  fifty-two-inch  gang  saws,  giving  a  daily  capacity 
of  180,000  feet.  The  mill  is  on  the  Missouri  &  Louisiana 
Railroad,  which  connects  with  the  Kansas  City  Southern 
Railway.     The  other  plant  has  the  same  railroad  connections. 


8o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

At  Neame  is  operated  a  double  band  mill,  with  an  output  of 
115,000  feet  a  day.  Because  of  the  character  of  the  logs  sup- 
plied that  mill,  most  of  the  railroad  timber  produced  by  the 
company  is  cut  there.  It  is  a  model  plant  in  every  way,  as  are 
the  others,  having  every  mechanical  facility  for  the  best  service. 
In  addition  to  the  output  of  these  mills  the  company  buys 
heavily  of  stocks  of  other  mills  in  the  shortleaf  and  longleaf 
pine  districts,  which  are  disposed  of  through  the  sales  depart- 
ment. 

Mr.  Keith  has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss 
Jane  Gregg,  of  Independence,  Missouri,  whom  he  wedded 
April  25,  1895.  Sh^  ^^^^  January  18,  1897.  ^is  second  wife 
before  her  marriage  was  Miss  Lucile  Hill,  of  Keytesville, 
Missouri,  whom  he  married  June  12,  1900.  One  child  has 
been  born  to  the  couple — Richard  William  Keith,  about  three 
years  of  age. 

Mr.  Keith  is  a  member  of  the  Kansas  City  Club,  Country 
Club,  Driving  Club,  Railroad  Club  and  Elm  Ridge  Club,  of 
Kansas  City,  and  of  the  Mercantile  Club,  of  St.  Louis.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Concatenated  Order  of  Hoo-Hoo,  also.  His 
chief  recreation  is  motoring  and  he  takes  much  pleasure  in 
driving  an  automobile  over  the  fine  boulevards  of  Kansas  City. 

Mr.  Keith  is  possessed  of  a  pleasing  manner,  a  native 
friendliness  and  has  a  winning  manner  which  he  has  displayed 
to  good  advantage  in  association  work.  He  has  applied  com- 
mon sense  principles  to  the  business  of  the  company  as  well  as 
to  the  organizations  among  the  trade,  and  his  personality  and 
methods  are  reflected  by  the  sales  force  of  the  company. 


Willi? 


In  n 

politan 


n  to  wonder ...j 

s  of  that,  to  wonder 


'  7  yn       V  a.  s^\.i  \^  L  y 


L^^.vi_v   .hat  thci.    .  ^  ^^''Hding  on  stilts 

"r-TiCv^  ^.c  about — a  kind  of  electric'  e.     We  know 

tiiat  there  is  a  man  in  there — sometuiits  jusl  one  man  and 
sometimes  a  man  and  a  few  deputies.  We  know  that  they 
reach  out  and  pull  levers;  that  they  reach  back  and  push 
levers;  that  from  morning  until  night  and  from  night  until 
morning  this  man,  or  his  deputy  or  deputies,  is  always  playing 
with  the  levers.  We  give  little  thought  to  him  either  person- 
ally or  col'  '      n  in  our  sub  usness 

ertui  the  r  \'e-cote. 

s,  any 
ct,  whether  o 


> 
that  \ 


the  night, 


the  > 

■     .'        ■  aS 

not  a  7  industrv,  but  rather 

his  conscrv- 


d.  •«««««*- 


dccaciw. 
much  to  be  ^ 


NA/IL-LIAM     RUSSELL.    PICKERINCB 


William  R.  Pickering 


In  many  of  the  great  central  railway  stations  in  the  metro- 
politan centers  of  the  world,  a  thousand  trains  of  cars  daily 
rush  in  and  out  and  round  about  in  such  an  apparently  pro- 
miscuous manner  as  to  lead  the  layman  to  wonder  how  the 
trains  ever  get  in,  and,  close  upon  the  heels  of  that,  to  wonder 
how  they  ever  get  out. 

We  know  vaguely  that  there  is  a  long  building  on  stilts 
somewhere  about — a  kind  of  electrical  dove-cote.  We  know 
that  there  is  a  man  in  there — sometimes  just  one  man  and 
sometimes  a  man  and  a  few  deputies.  We  know  that  they 
reach  out  and  pull  levers;  that  they  reach  back  and  push 
levers;  that  from  morning  until  night  and  from  night  until 
morning  this  man,  or  his  deputy  or  deputies,  is  always  playing 
with  the  levers.  We  give  little  thought  to  him  either  person- 
ally or  collectively;  but  away  down  in  our  sub-consciousness 
we  do  have  a  wonderful  respect  for  the  man  in  the  dove-cote. 

The  man  behind  any  movement,  any  business,  any  great 
theory  always  has  our  wholesome  respect,  whether  or  not  our 
surface  consciousness  recognizes  that  fact. 

The  man  who  occupies  the  electrical  dove-cote  for  the 
W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri, 
and  who  looks  out  and  ahead  for  that  organization  through 
the  night,  is  probably  as  little  known  personally  as  any  indi- 
vidual today  connected  with  the  yellow  pine  lumber  trade  of 
this  country.  It  is  not  because  William  Russell  Pickering  has 
not  attained  success  in  that  line  of  the  industry,  but  rather 
because  of  his  modest  and  retiring  disposition  and  his  conserv- 
ative and  unobtrusive  method  of  conducting  his  affairs. 
Withal,  he  has  his  friends,  many  of  them,  and,  in  the  several 
decades  that  he  has  followed  lumbering,  he  has  accomplished 
much  to  be  proud  of. 

81 


82  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

William  R.  Pickering  is  of  English  ancestry.  His  father 
was  brought  up  in  Derbyshire,  in  the  Midlands  of  England, 
but  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Missouri,  where 
he  became  a  school  teacher  and  later  a  county  judge.  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Ann  Greenstreet.  The  son, 
William  R.  Pickering,  was  born  December  31,  1849,  in  St. 
Louis  County,  Missouri.  When  he  was  a  lad  of  ten  years  his 
parents  moved  to  Waynesville,  Missouri,  where  he  spent  his 
youth  and  gained  the'best  education  afforded  by  the  schools  of 

that  day. 

His  first  actual  experience  in  business  was  in  the  mining  of 
lead  at  JopHn,  Missouri,  where  he  went  in  1872.  Eight  years 
later  he  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Ellis  Short,  to  do  a 
merchandise  business  at  Joplin,  though  this  business  was  later 
extended  to  northern  Arkansas,  where  the  partners  bought  a 
tract  of  timber  at  Seligman,  Missouri,  on  the  southern  border 
of  that  State.  This  timber  business  grew  to  such  proportions 
as  to  overshadow  the  merchandising  and  by  1887  Short  & 
Pickering  extended  their  operations  into  Indian  Territory, 
where  they  began  the  manufacture  of  lumber  at  Stanley.  In 
1894  Mr.  Pickering  organized  the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber 
Company,  establishing  headquarters  at  Springfield,  Missouri. 
Retail  yards  were  put  in  at  Springfield,  Lebanon,  Deepwater, 
Ozark  and  Pierce  City,  Missouri,  and  Fayetteville  and  Van- 
buren,  Arkansas.  A  planing  mill  was  run  at  Tuskahoma, 
Indian  Territory.  The  retail  business  was  continued  until 
1898,  when  it  was  closed  out  and  the  company  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  yellow  pine  lumber  manufacturing  business. 

With  the  growing  scarcity  of  timber  in  Indian  Territory, 
which  precluded  the  possibiHty  of  the  extension  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company,  an  investiga- 
tion of  other  localities  for  the  continuance  of  the  business  of 
the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company  was  made.  This 
work  of  investigation  was  intrusted  to  William  Alfred  Pick- 
ering, Mr.  Pickering's  son,  and,  after  an  examination  of  many 
bodies  of  land  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  resulted  in  the  pur- 


WILLIAM  R.  PICKERING  83 

chase  of  30,000  acres  of  virgin  longleaf  yellow  pine  timber  in 
Vernon  Parish,  Louisiana.  This  original  tract  was  estimated 
to  contain  300,000,000  feet  of  timber,  and  was  the  best  virgin 
longleaf  yellow  pine  for  sale  anywhere.  A  point  on  the  main 
line  of  the  Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  &  Gulf  Railroad  (now  the 
Kansas  City  Southern) ,  sixty-five  miles  from  Lake  Charles, 
Louisiana,  was  selected  for  a  mill  site.  Ground  was  broken 
in  March  for  the  building  of  the  mill,  and  operations  were 
started  in  December,  1898.  The  enterprise  was  responsible 
for  the  growth  of  a  considerable  settlement  and  the  place  is 
known  as  Pickering,  in  honor  of  the  founder.  In  the  years 
that  have  passed  since  the  company  entered  Louisiana,  several 
large  tracts  of  timber  land  have  been  bought  in  addition  to  the 
original  property.  In  order  to  operate  these  tracts,  another 
town,  called  Barham,  in  honor  of  T.  M.  Barham,  the  secretary 
of  the  company,  was  located  in  the  southwestern  section  of 
Vernon  Parish,  on  the  Kansas  City  Southern  Railroad.  The 
Pickering  plant  is  equipped  with  two  bands  and  one  pony 
circular.  The  output  of  this  mill  is  200,000  feet  a  day.  In 
addition  to  the  sawmill  is  operated  a  modern  planing  mill  and 
a  stock  of  12,000,000  to  15,000,000  feet  of  lumber  is  carried. 
The  logs  for  the  mill  are  brought  from  the  company's  hold- 
ings over  a  standard  gauge  railroad  seven  miles  long,  built 
entirely  of  steel,  and  having  a  full  equipment  of  cars  and  loco- 
motives. 

In  1905  a  third  mill  was  built  by  the  company  to  increase 
the  output  and  so  care  for  the  growing  demand  for  yellow  pine. 
This  mill  is  at  Cravens,  about  twenty  miles  southeast  of 
Pickering,  on  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railway. 
The  plant  is  of  the  most  modern  type  and  as  complete  as  any 
mill  in  the  South.  It  has  two  fourteen-inch  band  saws,  a 
Corliss  engine  and  every  up-to-date  device  for  the  quick  and 
economical  handling  of  the  logs  and  the  finished  product. 
Steel  and  concrete  entered  largely  into  the  construction  of  this 
mill,  which  insures  greater  permanency  than  is  usually  found 
in  plants  of  the  South.     The  timber  from  which  the  company 


84  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

draws  its  logs  for  the  three  mills  in  Louisiana  and  eastern  Texas 
aggregates  1,500,000,000  feet. 

The  main  offices  of  the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company 
are  in  the  Keith  &  Perry  Building,  Kansas  City.  Mr.  Picker- 
ing is  president;  his  son,  W.  A.  Pickering,  is  vice  president 
and  manager;  T.  M.  Barham  is  secretary,  and  R.  E.  Browne 
is  general  sales  agent.  Mr.  Pickering,  Senior,  devotes  most 
of  his  time  in  the  management  of  the  company's  affairs  to 
looking  after  the  financial  end  of  the  business  and  the  buying 
of  timber,  leaving  the  actual  operation  of  the  mills  and  its 
detail  work  to  W.  A.  Pickering  and  his  efficient  assistants. 

While,  as  has  been  said  before,  Mr.  Pickering's  chief 
interest  has  been  as  a  lumberman  since  1887,  he  has,  never- 
theless, had  experience  in  financiering.  In  1893  he  began  a 
banking  business  at  Marionville,  Missouri,  which  he  carried 
on  until  1897.  Among  his  financial  interests  is  a  large  holding 
of  stock  in  the  Bank  of  Springfield,  a  state  institution. 

Mr.  Pickering  married  Miss  Jane  Coggburn,  at  Iberia, 
Missouri,  February  13,  1870.  Two  sons  were  born  to  the 
couple,  one  of  whom,  W.  A.  Pickering,  vice  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company, 

survives. 

Mr.  Pickering  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  though 
he  is  not  an  active  Mason.  In  politics  he  is  a  supporter  of  the 
policies  of  the  Republican  party.  He  has  few  interests  out- 
side of  those  of  the  company,  and  he  devotes  all  of  his  atten- 
tion to  the  direction  of  the  immense  enterprises  of  the  W.  R. 
Pickering  Lumber  Company. 


William    ^ 


-cy  hat  .i  pr 

or  a  ..:;iiy  af: 

jn  of   one   g 
>  lo  a  nal  laurels  have  been  won  .e 

*  alert- 
has 
3  o!  hrs  lumberman  parent  is 
William  Alfred  Pickering,  of  Kansas  Citv.  Missouri. 

William  A.  '. 
ing  and  Jane  (Coggburn) 
26,    1870,  at  Springfield,  uri.     Hi> 

Englishman  who  came   from   the    ^ 
America  and  settled  in  Missouri, 

the  county  courts.     William  \  ^       .       ....  aver- 

age experience  of  he  was  in  as  miif^  micrViirf 

a    vicrnrr.nc 


H 


r  V 


r  C: 


I  J  v^  A  va  .      i  ^ 


In  I 

Ellis  Shui 
this  busine&s  cv 
tract  of  timber 
'^  ^    r  bu: 

ns   01   :3iiori 

This  was 
R.  Pickering 
qu  M.     V 

and  at  tiic-  age  uf  ninetee 


■">ed  a  partnership  with 


crmg,  fresh  Irom  college 
'  upon  applying  his 


Ol^  I  ^  ^  >J '">!'=•     a3F1"^-IA      rvi  A  I  _]  _l  I  NA/ 


WIL_L_IAM     ALFRED     PICKERING 


William  A.   Pickering 


Heredity  has  often  played  a  prominent  part  in  a  man's 
choice  of  a  career.  In  family  after  family  it  is  found  that  a 
profession  or  vocation  of  one  generation  has  been  handed 
down  to  another,  and  additional  laurels  have  been  won  by  the 
younger  generation  through  the  display  of  a  cumulative  alert- 
ness, earnestness  and  persistence.  A  lumberman  who  has 
inherited  all  the  excellent  qualities  of  his  lumberman  parent  is 
William  Alfred  Pickering,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

William  A.  Pickering  is  the  son  of  William  Russell  Picker- 
ing and  Jane  (Coggburn)  Pickering,  and  was  born  December 
26,  1870,  at  Springfield,  Missouri.  His  grandfather  was  an 
Englishman  who  came  from  the  Midlands  of  England  to 
America  and  settled  in  Missouri,  where  he  became  a  judge  of 
the  county  courts.  William  A.  Pickering  had  about  the  aver- 
age experience  of  the  healthy  boy;  he  was  in  as  much  mischief 
as  any  one  in  his  native  town,  with  a  vigorous  constitution, 
wholesome  ambition,  an  inquiring  mind  and  a  hopeful  spirit. 
He  gained  his  education  through  the  ordinary  channels  with- 
out much  effort  in  the  way  of  conquering  his  studies,  and 
concluded  his  education  by  a  course  at  Drury  College,  Spring- 
field, Missouri. 

In  1880  W.  R.  Pickering  had  formed  a  partnership  with 
Ellis  Short  to  do  a  merchandise  business  at  Joplin,  Missouri, 
this  business  eventually  being  extended  into  Arkansas,  and  a 
tract  of  timber  was  bought  at  Seligman,  Missouri.  By  1887 
the  timber  business  had  developed  into  manufacturing,  and 
the  operations  of  Short  &  Pickering  were  extended  into 
Indian  Territory.  This  was  followed,  in  1894,  by  the  organi- 
zation of  the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company,  with  head- 
quarters at  Springfield.  Young  Pickering,  fresh  from  college 
and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  insisted  upon  applying  his 

85 


86  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

hand  and  all  the  industry  of  his  nature  to  acquiring  a  knowledge 
of  the  lumber  business.  During  his  apprenticeship  to  the 
trade  he  was  employed  alternately  in  the  yard  and  in  the  office, 
which  had  a  wholesale  department.  The  wholesale  business 
was  started  to  give  an  outlet  for  the  product  of  three  sawmills 
which  were  run  in  the  Choctaw  Nation  and  were  handled  in 
conjunction  with  the  St.  Louis  &  San  Francisco  Railroad. 

The  industry  and  tact  displayed  by  W.  A.  Pickering  soon 
placed  him  in  the  position  of  sales  manager  of  the  business  of 
the  firm  of  which  his  father  was  a  member.  He  had  handled 
lumber  and  kept  books  and  dealt  with  customers  and  salesmen 
and  fitted  into  the  place  as  sales  manager  with  an  ease  and 
grace  that  made  him  a  prominent  factor  in  the  trade.  When 
the  W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company  was  organized  the 
sales  manager  secured  an  interest  in  the  concern  and  became 
the  active  director  of  afifairs.  The  company  started  yards  at 
Springfield,  Lebanon,  Deepwater,  Ozark  and  Pierce  City, 
Missouri,  and  Fayetteville  and  Vanburen,  Arkansas,  with  a 
planing  mill  at  Tuskahoma,  Indian  Territory.  This  business 
was  closed  out  in  1898  and  the  company  entered  into  a  strictly 
wholesale  yellow  pine  lumber  manufacturing  business. 

Mr.  Pickering  realized  that  the  extent  of  the  manufacturing 
operations  in  the  Indian  Territory  were  limited  because  of 
the  growing  scarcity  of  timber,  and,  therefore,  besought  some 
other  opportunity  to  invest  the  capital  of  the  W.  R.  Pickering 
Lumber  Company,  and  to  which  to  devote  his  energy.  He 
chose  a  location  in  Vernon  Parish,  Louisiana,  where  was 
bought  30,000  acres  of  virgin  longleaf  yellow  pine  timber,  upon 
which  it  was  estimated  there  was  300,000,000  feet.  The  mill 
was  built  in  1898  at  a  point  which  has  developed  into  the  thriv- 
ing town  of  Pickering,  on  the  main  line  of  the  Kansas  City, 
Pittsburg  &  Gulf  Railroad,  now  the  Kansas  City  Southern. 
The  mill  is  equipped  with  two  bands  and  one  pony  circular 
and  has  a  daily  output  of  200,000  feet.  A  planing  mill,  with 
the  most  modern  equipment,  is  operated  in  conjunction  with 
the  sawmill.     The  logs  are  brought  to  the  mill  over  a  standard 


WILLIAM  A.  PICKERING  87 

gauge  railroad  seven  miles  long,  laid  entirely  with  steel  rails, 
and  with  a  full  complement  of  cars  and  locomotives.  A  stock 
of  12,000,000  to  15,000,000  feet  of  lumber  is  carried  at  this 
plant.     Shipments  aggregate  50,000,000  feet  annually. 

Since  entering  Louisiana  the  company  has  bought  several 
large  tracts  of  timber  land  in  addition  to  the  original  purchase 
and  established  another  town,  called  Barham,  the  name  being 
the  same  as  that  of  the  secretary  of  the  company,  and  given  in 
honor  of  the  man  who  was  of  assistance  to  Mr.  Pickering  in 
the  organization  and  development  of  the  business.  The 
progress  which  marked  this  concern  from  its  inception  con- 
tinued, and  the  business  grew  rapidly  in  one  phase  after 
another. 

A  third  mill  of  200,000  feet  daily  capacity  was  built  in  1905  at 
Cravens,  twenty  miles  southeast  of  Pickering,  on  a  new  branch 
of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railway.  All  the  oper- 
ations of  the  company  are  conducted  on  the  Kansas  City 
Southern  line,  or  close  to  it,  and  are  connected  with  railroads 
projected,  constructed  or  operated  by  the  W.  R.  Pickering 
Lumber  Company. 

The  new  mill  has  two  fourteen-inch  band  saws,  Corliss 
engine  and  every  mechanical  device,  which  gives  it  a  place 
with  any  of  the  first-class  plants  in  the  South.  The  mill  con- 
tains more  steel  and  concrete  than  any  of  its  predecessors,  and 
this  fact  will  tend  to  insure  a  permanence  which  has  not 
always  been  possible  with  sawmills  where  wood  has  been  the 
chief  material  of  construction,  and  which  frequently  are  sub- 
jected to  fire  hazard  to  which  other  materials  are  not  amenable. 
It  is  estimated  that  the  company  has  about  1,500,000,000  feet 
of  timber  in  Louisiana  and  eastern  Texas. 

The  officers  of  the  company  are  W.  R.  Pickering,  presi- 
dent; W.  A.  Pickering,  vice  president  and  general  manager, 
and  T.  M.  Barham,  secretary.  R.  E.  Browne  is  general 
sales  agent  of  the  company.  May  i,  1899,  the  general  offices 
were  located  in  Kansas  City,  in  the  Keith  &  Perry  Building. 

Mr.  Pickering  has  a  social  as  well  as  a  commercial  side  to 


88  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

his  career.  He  has  traveled  as  extensively  as  circumstances 
permitted,  is  a  w^idely  read  man  and,  although  he  left  school 
at  an  early  age,  he  has  employed  desirable  agencies  and  instru- 
mentalities to  complete  an  equipment  which,  in  connection 
with  his  commercial  career,  places  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
American  business  men.  He  is  a  member  of  several  social 
clubs  of  Kansas  City  and  devotes  much  of  his  leisure  time,  in 
the  golf  season,  to  the  Evanston  golf  links,  and  frequently  is 
found  at  the  Railway  Club  and  at  the  Commercial  Club.  His 
family  is  identified  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Pickering  married  Miss  Zoe  Cravens,  of  Springfield, 
Missouri,  Dec.  ii,  1891.  The  couple  has  one  son,  Russell 
Cravens  Pickering. 


i  H.  '        tcon 


Dom  me   p' 
I    me     united 
oi  wmcn  country  cc 
inent   men  of  ?  Jing  out 

conspicuously  b  c    oi    his  a  aeven  s 

Samuel  Holmes  Fulierton,  of  St.  Louis,  Mis^ 

He  has  the  traits  of  his  race  in  full  m  •, 

shrewdness  a^d   foresight  displayed  in  the  m  , 

commercial    affairs,  and   the   dire-  of   his   pun 

gether  with  a  certain   moral  ,  perhaps  i 

5,  have  put  him 

ton 
■  horn    i  2.     His  parents  v 

nel  and 
Fme. 

^^e  ort. 


prO) 
the  )  5  OI   . 

MOTJ=t3_l_IU"^     83M_IOH    -J3L 


SAMUEL.     HOLMEIS     FULL-EIRXON 


Samuel  H.  Fullerton 


Every  nationality  has  its  own  peculiar  characteristics,  which 
impress  themselves  upon  the  civilization  of  every  country 
where  its  representatives  are  to  be  found.  The  Scotch,  whose 
distinguishing  characteristics  are  thrift,  enterprise  and  persist- 
ency, have  had  a  notable  share  in  both  the  political  and 
industrial  development  of  the  United  States,  the  lumber 
industry  of  which  country  contains  the  names  of  many  prom- 
inent men  of  Scotch  descent.  Among  them,  standing  out 
conspicuously  because  of  his  abilities  and  achievements,  is 
Samuel  Holmes  Fullerton,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 

He  has  the  traits  of  his  race  in  full  measure,  and  the  Scotch 
shrewdness  and  foresight  displayed  in  the  management  of  his 
commercial  aflfairs,  and  the  directness  of  his  purpose,  to- 
gether with  a  certain  moral  rigidity,  perhaps  inherited  from 
his  Covenanter  ancestors,  have  put  him  where  he  is  today. 

Although  his  ancestors  came  from  Scotland,  Mr.  Fullerton 
was  born  near  Belfast,  Ireland,  in  1852.  His  parents  were 
Captain  Samuel  and  Anna  (Holmes)  Fullerton.  His  youth 
was  spent  in  the  Emerald  Isle  and  perhaps  the  first  evidence 
of  any  qualities  above  the  ordinary  was  in  his  determination, 
at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  to  emigrate  to  the  United  States  in 
search  of  broader  opportunities  than  he  found  at  home.  In 
March,  1871,  he  reached  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  secured 
employment  in  the  lumber  business.  This  initial  education 
was  of  great  value  to  him  in  later  years,  for  he  acquainted 
himself  thoroughly  with  methods  of  retailing  lumber  and 
welcomed  every  opportunity  to  study  the  business  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  yardman,  which  later  made  him  a  capable 
salesman.  The  retail  yard  and  its  resources  of  supply  were  dif- 
ferent propositions  at  that  time  from  what  they  are  today,  and 
the  young  man  evolved  ideas  of  buying  and    selling,  which 

88 


90  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

formed  themselves  into  a  definite  scheme  and  aroused  an  am- 
bition to  put  them  into  practice. 

The  sought-for  opening  came  rather  unexpectedly  to  Mr. 
Fullerton  after  two  years  spent  in  Pittsburg.  Through  the 
influence  of  his  brother  Robert,  who  was  associated  with  M. 
T.  Greene,  the  founder  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  he 
was  given  charge  of  the  company's  yard  at  Tecumseh,  Ne- 
braska. Mr.  Fullerton  did  not  hesitate  about  accepting  the 
position,  although  he  realized  that  his  career  would  probably 
hinge  on  the  ability  he  could  show.  In  1873  the  Greene  com- 
pany started  a  chain  of  retail  yards  throughout  northeastern 
Kansas,  and  the  Tecumseh  yard  was  operated  under  the 
Fullerton  name,  the  brothers  having  an  interest  in  Mr.  Greene's 
company.  After  two  years  in  this  location,  Samuel  H.  Ful- 
lerton went  to  Kansas  and  took  charge  of  another  yard,  giving 
this  up  to  become  a  manager  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Com- 
pany. In  the  next  few  years  he  had  much  to  do  with  the 
development  of  the  Hne  yard  idea  to  meet  a  large  and  urgent 
call  for  lumber.  Settlers  were  rushing  in  and  occupying  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  River  valleys,  creating  an  unprece- 
dented demand  for  lumber.  It  was  a  period  of  activity  and 
prosperity;  but  the  pendulum  of  trade  eventually  swung  back, 
following  the  crop  failures  of  several  seasons,  and  financial 
ruin  faced  many  concerns.  With  a  string  of  yards  extending 
from  Atchison  to  the  Nebraska  line  in  northeastern  Kansas, 
the  business  managde  by  Mr.  Fullerton  did  not  meet  disaster 
as  did  many  other  ventures,  but  actually  prospered. 

Early  in  the  '8o's  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company  was 
incorporated  and  Mr.  Fullerton  was  made  a  director.  The 
operations  of  the  company  did  not  extend  to  the  western  retail 
field.  The  FuUertons  remained  as  managers  and  owners  of 
the  yard  business  until  1891.  Then  they  bought  the  interest 
of  Mr.  Greene  and  conducted  a  Hne  of  about  fifty  yards  under 
the  title  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  a  partnership. 

For  four  years  the  retail  business  was  successfully  car- 
ried on,  but  changing  conditions  led  to  the  organization  of 


SAMUEL  H.  FULLERTON  91 

the  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal  Company  for  the  purpose  of 
entering  into  other  lumber  lines.  The  business  of  the  old 
company  was  absorbed  by  the  corporation  and  wholesaling 
and  manufacturing  engaged  in.  By  this  time  yellow  pine  had 
gained  a  stronghold  on  the  consumers  of  Kansas,  where  once 
white  pine  alone  had  been  demanded,  and  this  feature  of  the 
trade  had  extended  into  Nebraska  and  Iowa. 

Among  the  first  investments  made  by  the  corporation  was 
one  in  a  sawmill  at  Logansport,  Louisiana,  in  1894.  This  mill 
was  situated  in  the  shortleaf  yellow  pine  belt  and  was  equipped 
with  circular  and  gang  saws.  Within  a  few  years  other  mills 
had  been  acquired  and  an  output  of  more  than  500,000  feet  a 
day  of  shortleaf  and  longleaf  pine  was  controlled.  Fully  one- 
third  of  the  total  volume  of  yellow  pine  handled  by  the  com- 
pany is  distributed  through  the  large  territory  served  by  its 
yards,  though  millions  of  feet  of  white  pine  and  Pacific  Coast 
woods  are  disposed  of.  The  wholesale  business  is  extensive, 
covering  nearly  all  the  northern  portion  of  the  country  from 
the  Rockies  to  the  Atlantic. 

Mr.  Fullerton  has  been  president  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  & 
Coal  Company  since  its  organization,  and  has  as  his  executive 
assistants  Robert  Fullerton,  his  brother,  as  vice  president; 
Clifford  T.  Millard,  secretary,  and  Frank  Goepel,  treasurer. 

But  Mr.  Fullerton  is  not  president  in  title  only;  he  is  the 
active  head  of  the  enterprise,  a  worker  who  knows  not  fatigue, 
and  one  who  imbues  every  man  under  him  with  the  spirit  of 
performing  each  duty  willingly  and  conscientiously.  There 
is  not  an  employee  of  the  company,  from  the  humblest  laborer 
up,  who  does  not  respect  the  president  of  the  concern  for  his 
honesty  and  fair  dealing.  Personally,  he  is  a  friend  to  them 
all,  and  their  suggestions  pertaining  to  the  conduct  of  the 
business  are  welcomed  and  appreciated.  Mr.  Fullerton  has 
the  faculty  of  choosing  the  proper  man  for  the  position — one 
in  whom  can  be  placed  the  fullest  confidence — and  the  results 
attained  by  this  policy  are  beneficial  beyond  calculation.  His 
ability  to  hold  close  connection  with  men  is  shown  by  the  fact 


92  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

that  Mr.  Goepel  has  been  associated  with  him  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  Mr.  Millard  was  interested  with  the  Fuller- 
tons  in  the  old  Chicago  Lumber  Company. 

Mr.  Fullerton  identified  himself  with  the  Southern  Lumber 
Manufacturers'  Association  when  he  entered  the  wholesale 
and  manufacturing  field,  and  he  has  had  a  strong  influence  in 
upbuilding  the  reputation  of  yellow  pine.  Naturally,  his  wide 
acquaintance  with  trade  matters  in  a  large  section  of  the 
country  was  a  valuable  adjunct  to  his  labors  for  the  association, 
which  he  served  as  president  for  two  terms — 1900  and  1901. 
In  1904  he  was  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  to  make 
an  exhibit  of  southern  pine  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposi- 
tion at  St.  Louis.  He  was  largely  responsible  for  the  success 
of  the  exhibit,  which  received  the  grand  prize,  and  he  was 
awarded  a  special  gold  medal  and  a  diploma  as  "collaborator." 

Mr.  Fullerton,  besides  being  president  of  the  Chicago 
Lumber  &  Coal  Company,  which  is  shipping  about  25,000,000 
feet  of  lumber  a  month,  is  president  of  the  William  Farrell 
Lumber  Company,  manufacturing  yellow  pine  and  oak  lumber 
at  Hensley,  Arkansas,  and  vice  president  of  the  Lee  Lumber 
Company,  Limited,  which  operates  a  yellow  pine  and  hard- 
wood mill  at  Tioga,  Louisiana.  Both  of  these  concerns  are 
heavy  timber  owners. 

Mr.  Fullerton  married  Miss  Lucy  Cook,  of  Clay  Center, 
Kansas.  They  had  three  children — Robert,  Ruby,  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Ogontz  School,  Ogontz,  Pennsylvania,  and  Samuel 
Baker  Fullerton,  a  student  at  the  Culver  Military  Academy. 
Robert  is  a  graduate  of  Cornell.  He  is  now  in  the  office  of 
the  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal  Company,  learning  the  details  of 
the  various  departments.  He  studied  the  Spanish  language  in 
Spain,  and  it  is  likely  he  will  look  after  the  export  trade  of  the 
company  to  the  Latin  countries. 

Mr.  Fullerton  is  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Club,  the  St. 
Louis  and  Glen  Echo  Country  clubs  and  the  Business  Men's 
League,  all  of  St.  Louis. 


.^or-' 


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ncps  thp  r 


iiiC   UC31  ^uv,v,c^t'  >,   t* 

Thus,   & 
na^  uccii  .  J    •  -    Roucii  i^cs    iviumca,  i 

He  comes  oi  oc    "   "     "  '  '  '''■"^'^  of  uicu 

that  has  given  much  i  me  ac 

of    orderly   government   and    of   inai; 
development.     He  is  not  a 
States,  but  his  bv 
h 

Ro. 

'  Fullerton.     His  grandparents  were 
ted  t 


c 

Octf 

.'  spcn 

^ols  of  that  li 

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of  h;                                                         ewinto  a  strong 
and  . 

P' 

the 

y 

;U  set 

TV  ofJcft 

But  the 

f^onc  t'^ 

United 

e. 

II      l_/  1^  '' 


It  o 

mincia  try  to  ii.««.^ 

08 


ROBERX     FULLERTON 


Robert  Fullerton 


While  the  unthinking  are  prone  to  ascribe  to  chance  many 
of  the  marked  successes  of  life,  it  is  not  necessary  to  ascribe 
either  to  luck  or  to  occult  influences  the  position  of  the  ordina- 
ry successful  American.  In  most  cases,  a  study  of  the  career 
of  such  an  individual  reveals  nothing  more  than  the  possession 
of  an  active  mind  and  body,  an  unfaltering  purpose,  and,  for 
the  best  successes,  the  possession  of  a  rugged  and  direct  type 
of  honesty.  Thus,  simply,  is  explained  the  success  which 
has  been  gained  by  Robert  Fullerton,  of  Des   Moines,  Iowa. 

He  comes  of  Scotch  ancestry,  of  that  sturdy  type  of  men 
that  has  given  much  toward  the  development  of  civilization, 
of  orderly  government  and  of  industrial  and  commercial 
development.  He  is  not  a  native  born  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  but  his  business  life  has  been  spent  in  the  country  of 
his  adoption. 

Robert  Fullerton  is  the  son  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Anna 
(Holmes)  Fullerton.  His  grandparents  were  natives  of  Scot- 
land who  emigrated  to  Ireland.  It  was  in  Kilcown,  Antrim 
County,  in  the  Emerald  Isle,  that  Robert  Fullerton  was  born, 
October  3,  1845.  There  he  spent  his  boyhood,  gaining  what 
education  he  could  at  the  few  schools  of  that  locality  and  as 
the  means  of  his  parents  would  permit.  He  grewinto  a  strong 
youth,  hopeful  and  ambitious,  yet  without  prospect  of  accom- 
plishing anything  that  seemed  to  him  likely  to  be  really  worth 
the  while,  for  that  country  offered  little  of  promise  to  one  of 
his  birth  and  station  in  life.  But  there  was  another  land,  a 
land  of  golden  promise,  whither  had  gone  thousands  of  his 
fellow  countrymen.  From  those  who  had  gone  to  the  United 
States  came  news  of  the  position  and  fortune  to  be  won  there. 
It  stirred  the  Scotch  blood  of  young  Fullerton  and  he  deter- 
mined in  that  country  to  make  his  venture  for  fortune. 

93 


94  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Bidding  good-by  to  the  country  of  his  birth,  in  July,  1867, 
Robert  Fullerton  crossed  the  ocean  and  reached  America, 
going  to  Ottawa,  IlUnois,  where  he  had  friends.  For  three 
months  he  worked  on  a  farm,  then  returned  to  the  city,  gain- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  carpenter's  trade  and  followed  this 
vocation  for  three  years  in  the  employ  of  Caldwell,  Clark  & 
Stebbins.  He  developed  into  a  skillful  worker,  and  with  his 
unquestioned  honesty  and  willingness  he  was  soon  on  the  road 
toward  prosperity.  For  three  years  he  remained  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Ottawa  and  then  went  to  Lacygne,  Kansas,  in  the  spring 
of  1870,  where  he  followed  the  contracting  and  building  busi- 
ness. While  engaged  in  this  pursuit  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  M.  T.  Greene,  a  Chicago  lumberman.  Mr.  Greene  took 
an  interest  in  the  young  man,  admired  his  thoroughness  and 
respected  his  abihty,  with  the  result  that  he  offered  the  car- 
penter a  position  as  manager  of  the  Greene  yard  at  Lacygne 
during  Mr.  Greene's  absence  on  a  wedding  trip.  Mr. 
Fullerton  was  not  a  novice  at  the  lumber  trade,  for  he  had 
acquired  a  familiarity  with  lumber  in  doing  carpentering,  and 
he  did  not  disappoint  his  employer  in  the  display  of  executive 

force. 

So  forcibly  had  he  demonstrated  his  ability  that  he  was 
transferred  for  a  short  time  to  Tecumseh,  Nebraska,  and  sub- 
sequently to  Clay  Center,  Kansas,  and  thence  to  Des  Moines, 
where  he  had  charge  of  the  yard.  In  addition  to  this  man- 
agership, he  had  general  supervision  of  the  other  Greene 
yards  in  Iowa,  operated  by  Mr.  Greene  as  the  Chicago  Lum- 
ber Company.  Gradually,  his  services  with  the  company 
became  so  valuable  that  he  was  given  an  interest  in  the  con- 
cern, as  was  his  brother,  Samuel  H.  Fullerton,  who  was  in 
charge  of  a  yard  at  Tecumseh,  Nebraska,  which  was  operated 
under  the  name  of  Fullerton  Brothers.  In  1873  the  Chicago 
Lumber  Company  started  a  chain  of  retail  yards  in  northeast- 
ern Kansas,  and  to  Robert  Fullerton  was  intrusted  the  labor  of 
establishing  these  branches.  With  the  opening  of  the  first  of 
these  yards,  conducted  as  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  in 


ROBERT  FULLERTON  95 

April  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Fullerton  moved  to  Clay  Center. 
Yards  were  put  in  through  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  River 
valleys  and  with  the  inrush  of  immigration  exceedingly  heavy 
demand  for  lumber  was  created  by  the  settlers.  In  1875  Mr. 
Fullerton  moved  to  Des  Moines  and  was  succeeded  at  Clay 
Centerby  his  brother  as  general  manager  at  that  point.  Pros- 
perity, however,  was  not  to  continue,  and  a  few  years  later  the 
failure  of  successive  crops  resulted  in  a  financial  panic  which 
brought  ruin  to  many  of  the  lumbermen  who  were  unprepared 
to  meet  the  disastrous  business  depression.  Through  the  care- 
ful management  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company  by  Mr. 
Greene,  Mr.  Fullerton  and  the  latter's  brother,  the  line  yard 
business  was  not  swept  away. 

In  1891  Mr.  Fullerton  and  his  brother  bought  the  interest 
of  Mr.  Greene  in  the  business  of  the  several  yards  operated  by 
him  and  continued  alone  under  the  style  of  the  Chicago  Lum- 
ber Company,  a  partnership.  This  business  was  carried  on 
until  1895  with  much  success,  when  the  Chicago  Lumber  & 
Coal  Company  was  incorporated  by  Robert  Fullerton,  Samuel 
H.  Fullerton,  Frank  Goepel  and  C.  I.  Millard,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  engaging  in  the  manufacture,  as  well  as  the  distribution, 
of  lumber.  The  partnership  was  taken  over  by  the  corpora- 
tion and  Samuel  H.  Fullerton  became  president  of  the  com- 
pany and  Robert  Fullerton  vice  president.  The  business  was 
reorganized  on  more  substantial  grounds  and  extended  so  as 
to  include  yards  in  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Iowa  and  Missouri. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  engaging  in  the  sawmill  business 
was  the  growing  demand  in  Kansas  and  other  western  states 
for  yellow  pine  to  take  the  place  of  white  pine,  because  of  its 
increasing  scarcity  and  rising  value.  A  sawmill  at  Logansport, 
Louisiana,  located  in  a  shortleaf  yellow  pine  belt,  was  bought 
by  the  company.  This  mill  was  equipped  with  circular  and 
gang  saws,  and  a  ready  market  was  found  for  its  product. 
With  the  growth  of  the  demand  for  longleaf  pine,  other  mills 
were  acquired  from  time  to  time,  and  of  recent  years  the  com- 
pany has  controlled  a  daily  output  of  more  than  500,000  feet. 


96  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

At  least  a  third  of  the  total  output  of  the  yellow  pine  of  the 
company  is  distributed  through  the  company's  own  yards,  in 
addition  to  millions  of  feet  of  white  pine  and  Pacific  Coast 
woods.  The  company  manufactures  lumber  in  Louisiana, 
Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  and  seventy 
retail  yards  are  maintained.  Besides  the  retail  and  manufac- 
turing, the  company  does  a  wholesale  business  extending  into 
practically  every  northern  state  from  one  coast  to  the  other. 

In  an  inventive  way  Mr.  Fullerton  has  had  much  success 
and  is  stated  to  have  devised  the  best  lumber  skidder  ever 
erected.  He  has  also  invented  a  crosscut  saw,  operated  by 
compressed  air,  for  cutting  down  trees,  and  this  device  is  now 
being  developed. 

Mr.  Fullerton  married  Miss  Fannie  Parsons,  a  daughter  of 
Galacia  Parsons,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  March  lo,  1885.  Of 
this  union  have  been  born  three  sons  and  a  daughter — Robert, 
Junior,  Lawrence,  Philip  and  Catherine  Fullerton.  The  eldest 
son  has  recently  completed  a  course  at  a  military  academy  and 
will  probably  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  as  a  lumber- 
man. 

During  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St.  Louis, 
Mr.  Fullerton  was  disbursing  agent  for  the  Government  and 
$9,600,000  passed  through  his  hands.  Mr.  Fullerton  is  a 
believer  in  the  Presbyterian  faith  and  has  given  generously  to 
its  charities.  He  is  a  writer  of  no  mean  ability  and  a  frequent 
contributor  to  newspapers  and  other  publications.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Des  Moines  Country  Club  and  is  an  enthusiastic 
golfer.  He  is  president  of  the  Civic  League,  of  Des  Moines, 
and  his  work  in  behalf  of  that  organization  is  of  the  self-sacri- 
ficing kind,  directed  toward  the  well-being  of  the  community, 
and  an  indication  of  his  character  and  aspirations. 


Clifford  I 


Aptitudp  f- 
may  ^f 


I ,  \_^  >. 


-   -.,-   - ,   New 

1  r\H 


•ness  at  Fairhaven  a..v.   i. 
iQr  -   '   ^-^  '  *^  •   distinctioii  vm   ,  ...^   ;. 

lumberman  cu  use  .  " '"  '^e  Pen  -U  for- 

ests.    In  1858   the  xviiiiara  1^  *  led  at 

Burlington,  Iowa,  Mr.  Millard  c. 
door  business  and,  later,  in  the  savvinii. 
line  yard  business,  which  he  introduc 

Clifford  Isaac  Millard  was  born  at  li 
t  r  6,   1861,  and   spent    ■ 


--A 


exp 

ployee  o 

th'«  p  1  but  a  b 

-  as  a  b«^ 


business.     His  hrst 
t  service  a 


rnts 

this  capacity  he  be 

lerton.  who  were  at  that  time 
nv's  vard  at  Lcaven- 

r.  thus  f' 


HA- 


cage  Lumber  <^ij 


CLIFFORD     ISAAC     MIUi-ARD 


Clifford  I.  Millard 


Aptitude  for  the  lumber  business,  as  well  as  a  liking  for  it, 
may  be  said  to  have  been  inherited  by  C.  I.  Millard,  of  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.  His  father,  George  Millard,  was  a  New 
Englander,  who  lived  for  many  years  at  Fairhaven,  Vermont, 
and  his  mother,  Celestine  (Baker)  Millard,  also  was  a  native 
of  the  Fairhaven  district.  George  Millard  was  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business  at  Fairhaven  and  at  Tioga,  Pennsylvania, 
for  several  years,  and  had  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
lumberman  to  use  a  pony  circular  saw  in  the  Pennsylvania  for- 
ests. In  1858  the  Millard  family  went  West,  and  settled  at 
Burlington,  Iowa,  Mr.  Millard  engaging  there  in  the  sash  and 
door  business  and,  later,  in  the  sawmill  and  ultimately  in  the 
line  yard  business,  which  he  introduced  into  Iowa  in  the  '6o's. 

Clifford  Isaac  Millard  was  born  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  Sep- 
tember 6,  1861,  and  spent  his  boyhood  days  in  that  city, 
attending  the  public  schools  and  graduating  from  the  Bur- 
lington high  school  in  1880.  His  training  in  the  schools  of 
Burlington  was  of  such  a  character  as  to  thoroughly  equip  him 
for  his  entry  into  the  school  of  business.  His  first  business 
experience  was  acquired  in  the  Government  service  as  an  em- 
ployee of  the  United  States  collector  at  Burlington.  He  held 
this  position  but  a  short  time,  and  in  1881  entered  the  employ 
of  his  father  as  a  bookkeeper  in  the  sawmill  conducted  by  the 
senior  Millard.  In  this  position  he  served  his  apprenticeship 
and  learned  the  elements  of  lumbering,  finally  becoming  a 
salesman.  While  acting  in  this  capacity  he  became  acquainted 
with  Robert  and  Samuel  H.  Fullerton,  who  were  at  that  time 
managing  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company's  yard  at  Leaven- 
worth, Kansas.  The  outcome  of  the  acquaintance  thus  formed 
was  that  Mr.  Millard  in  1885  entered  the  employ  of  the  Chi- 
cago Lumber  Company  as  a  traveling  salesman,  a  responsible 


97 


98  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

position  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-four  and  an  attractive  one, 
too,  his  salary  at  the  start  being  $ioo  a  month  and  expenses. 
The  Chicago  Lumber  Company's  wholesale  yards  at  that 
time  handled  practically  nothing  but  white  pine,  and  along  the 
Missouri  River  little  attention  was  paid  to  grades.  Prior  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law  in  1887,  lumber 
was  chiefly  shipped  to  dealers  from  large  central  points  and 
but  little  business  was  done  direct  from  the  mills.  The 
changes  in  transportation  caused  by  the  adoption  of  this  law 
resulted  in  most  of  the  concerns  which  had  been  doing  busi- 
ness at  the  large  shipping  points  removing  their  yards  to  the 
mills.  The  northern  mills  were  slow  in  responding  to  orders 
for  mixed  cars,  and  the  ultimate  result  of  the  new  law  was  that 
the  incipient  yellow  pine  industry  received  a  great  stimulus. 

Mr.  Millard  had  spent  much  of  his  time,  after  he  entered 
the  lumber  field,  in  studying  transportation  matters,  and  he 
realized  that  as  a  result  of  the  new  law  the  South  could  develop 
its  immense  pine  tracts  with  profit.  He  exerted  such  an  in- 
fluence in  this  direction  that  he  may  well  be  considered  one  of 
the  leaders  in  inaugurating  competition  between  southern  and 
northern  pine. 

The  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  which  was  owned  by 
M.  T.  Greene,  of  Chicago,  had  an  immense  line  of  yards 
through  the  West,  and  Mr.  Greene,  being  convinced  that 
Mr.  Millard  possessed  unusual  ability,  in  1890  offered  him  the 
position  of  buyer  at  the  company's  Denver  yard.  He  was  so 
successful  there  that,  on  September  i,  1 891,  he  was  called  to 
Chicago  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  illness  of  the  company's 
secretary.  The  Chicago  Lumber  Company  at  that  time  had 
about  three  hundred  retail  yards,  besides  vast  manufacturing 
and  distributing  interests,  and  Mr.  Millard  successfully 
adapted  himself  to  the  new  position,  which  he  retained  until 
1892,  when  he  succeeded  N.  W.  McLeod  as  manager  of  the 
office  and  as  second  vice  president  of  the  St.  Louis  Refriger- 
ator &  Wooden  Gutter  Company,  a  large  yellow  pine  manu- 
facturing and  distributing  concern  of  St.  Louis. 


CLIFFORD  I.  MILLARD  99 

Mr.  Millard,  during  his  connection  with  the  St.  Louis 
Refrigerator  &  Wooden  Gutter  Company,  increased  that 
concern's  monthly  business  from  115  cars  of  yellow  pine  to 
780  cars.  He  retained  his  position  with  this  concern  until 
1896,  when  he  became  secretary  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  & 
Coal  Company,  which  was  managed  and  chiefly  owned  by 
Robert  and  Samuel  H.  Fullerton,  who  in  1891  had  acquired 
the  line  yard  business  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  and, 
later,  organized  the  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal  Company  as  the 
successor  to  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company  in  its  relations  to 
the  line  yard  business.  Since  that  time  the  capital  of  the  com- 
pany has  been  increased  successively  to  $2,500,000  and  $4,000,- 
000.  The  growth  of  the  company's  business  was  nothing 
short  of  marvelous,  the  concern  and  its  allied  interests  now 
doing  a  business  amounting  to  about  40,000,000  feet  of  lumber 
a  month.  In  1900  the  company  entered  the  foreign  field, 
taking  contracts  in  that  year  for  17,000,000  feet  of  lumber  for 
shipment  to  Europe. 

The  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal  Company  now  has  eight 
sawmills,  ninety  yards  and  a  dozen  offices  throughout  the 
country,  and  is  one  of  the  great  distributing  concerns  of  the 
United  States,  its  annual  business  approximating  500,000,000 
feet. 

Through  his  knowledge  of  the  details  of  transportation, 
Mr.  Millard  was  able  to  take  advantage  of  a  great  opportunity 
and  to  become  a  pioneer  in  the  field  of  yellow  pine  distribu- 
tion. This  knowledge  has  stood  him  in  good  stead  ever  since. 
His  addresses  and  reports,  delivered  before  the  Yale  Forestry 
School,  the  Yellow  Pine  Manufacturers'  Association  and  the 
National  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association,  have  stamped 
him  as  an  authority  on  this  subject  and  given  him  wide  recog- 
nition among  students  of  the  economic  relations  of  transporta- 
tion. He  is  also  thoroughly  conversant  with  foreign  markets 
and  the  export  trade,  and  has  taken  great  interest  in  this 
feature  of  the  company's  business. 

Mr.  Millard  manages  things  with  a  grace  and  skill  which 


loo  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

would  attract  attention  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  work  is 
done  so  quietly  as  to  appear  to  be  accomplished  almost  with- 
out effort.  He  is  tall,  of  slight  figure,  and  has  the  appearance 
of  being  in  delicate  health,  but  he  actually  performs  more 
mental  and  physical  work  in  the  course  of  a  year  than  most 
men  are  capable  of.  He  is  a  great  traveler  and  makes  many 
trips  each  season  to  the  big  cities  of  the  East,  North  and  South, 
looking  after  the  company's  immense  and  widely  scattered 
interests.  At  one  time  Mr.  Millard  conducted  the  sales 
department  of  his  company,  but  he  now  exercises  supervision 
over  the  entire  business.  He  has  adopted  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller's idea  of  handling  a  corporation,  saying  that  he  has 
arrived  at  the  point  where  he  can  allow  himself  to  do  nothing 
when  everything  goes  right,  but  is  able  to  do  everything  when 
things  go  wrong. 

Besides  being  secretary  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal 
Company,  Mr.  Millard  is  secretary  of  the  Gulf  Land  &  Lum- 
ber Company,  of  Stables,  Louisiana  ;  secretary  of  the  Fuller- 
ton-Powell  Hardwood  Lumber  Company,  of  South  Bend, 
Indiana,  and  secretary  of  the  Bradley  Lumber  Company,  of 
Warren,  Arkansas. 

Mr.  Millard  married  Miss  Nellie  Drake,  of  Burlington, 
Iowa,  June  14,  1888.  Two  children  have  been  born  to  them 
— Louise  Drake  Millard,  a  promising  daughter  of  fourteen 
years,  and  Lyman  Clifford,  a  son  eleven  years  old.  The  fam- 
ily attends  the  Congregational  Church.  Mr.  Millard  takes 
much  interest  in  St.  Louis  club  life  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Mercantile  and  Glen  Echo  clubs. 

His  home,  located  since  1892  in  Westminster  Place,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  spots  in  St.  Louis,  is  finely  appointed,  and 
Mr.  Millard,  who  is  a  connoisseur,  has  filled  it  with  works  of 
art,  books  and  relics,  which,  in  their  travels,  he  and  Mrs. 
Millard  have  collected.  He  takes  pride  in  possessing  examples 
of  some  of  the  old  masters,  as  well  as  of  some  of  the  more  prom- 
inent artists  of  today,  and  it  is  among  his  books  and  pictures, 
with  his  family,  that  he  prefers  to  spend  his  leisure  hours. 


Fru*.^  H.   Goi-n^' 


^    'ttgart,  in  the  St^^''  '' 
^  and  December  - 


■  T-\o7     trn'-ic     r\/ 


"nthusiasm, 


granaiatncr,  i       ^    A.  Zeller,  was  a  j. 

sity   and  private   tutor  to  King   William   oi 

Goepel  attended  the  public  '   until  he  was 

old;  then  he  decided  to  folk  e  sea.     This 

was  directly  traceable  to   the  " 

sailor's  life  painted  by  his  cousin.      1  nesc 

young  Goepel  that,  securing  the 

^  .  boy  on  a  sa 

India,   China  and  the    Philippmes,  at  $4  a   r 


i  tiie 

nated 

crnts,  he 

to  East 


from  1864  to  1867,  would  fill  a 
Chinese  pirates,  sacked 

and   I 

Hongkonc 

votinir  C  on  a 

After  a  few 
-  and  the  crew  wore  out  the  pu    , 
\  round   rohin  was  <??^neH   hv  the  ere 
f^ack  to  W  ected 

ed. 
^iiimon 
istandin^  ..li 


*' 


Ha 


lit    ii<M 


_j3<=«3oe:)   HA 


MR3H     XHAJR^ 


FRANK     HERMAN     OOEZPEI- 


Frank  H.    Goepel 


Stuttgart,  in  the  State  of  Wiirttemberg,  Germany,  was  the 
place  and  December  28, 1849,  was  the  time  when  Frank  Herman 
Goepel  was  born.  Time  has  dealt  so  lightly  with  him  that  few 
who  meet  him  are  willing  to  credit  him  with  his  nearly  three- 
score years.  One  of  his  chief  characteristics  is  his  enthusiasm, 
and  his  spontaneity  is  that  of  a  boy. 

His  parents  were  Karl  and  Emma  (Zeller)  Goepel.  His 
grandfather,  Dr.  L.  A.  Zeller,  was  a  professor  at  Bonn  Univer- 
sity and  private  tutor  to  King  William  of  Prussia.  Frank 
Goepel  attended  the  public  schools  until  he  was  fourteen  years 
old;  then  he  decided  to  follow  the  sea.  This  determination 
was  directly  traceable  to  the  highly  colored  stories  of  the 
sailor's  life  painted  by  his  cousin.  These  stories  so  fascinated 
young  Goepel  that,  securing  the  consent  of  his  parents,  he 
shipped  as  cabin  boy  on  a  sailing  ship  from  Bremen  to  East 
India,  China  and  the  Philippines,  at  $4  a  month,  Prussian 
money. 

The  story  of  this  voyage,  from  1864  to  1867,  would  fill  a 
volume.  The  ship  was  captured  by  Chinese  pirates,  sacked 
and  burned.  The  crew  escaped  and  made  their  way  to 
Hongkong,  where  the  German  consul  secured  a  berth  for 
young  Goepel  on  a  Russian  vessel  loading  sugar  at  Manila  for 
San  Francisco.  After  a  few  weeks  a  storm  arose,  the  vessel 
sprung  a  leak  and  the  crew  wore  out  the  pumps  trying  to  keep 
it  afloat.  A  round  robin  was  signed  by  the  crew,  and  the 
captain  put  back  to  Hongkong,  where  the  vessel  was  inspected 
and  condemned.  Mr.  Goepel  finally  reached  home  by  ship- 
ping as  a  common  sailor  on  another  vessel. 

Notwithstanding  this  experience,  he  determined  to  stick  to 
his  chosen  profession  and  signed  for  a  round  trip  voyage, 
Hamburg  to  New  York,  where  he  had  brothers  and  sisters. 


101 


I02  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

While  in  New  York  his  relatives  persuaded  him  to  desert. 
Not  finding  employment  there,  he  decided  to  take  up  farming. 
He  secured  an  overseership  on  a  plantation  in  Virginia,  re- 
ceiving $12  a  month  and  board.  He  picked  up  English  there, 
learning  to  speak  it  fluently.  While  in  Virginia  he  read  of  the 
wealth  of  Kansas  and  the  ease  with  which  farm  land  could  be 
acquired  there.  The  German  instinct  of  land  ownership 
asserted  itself,  and,  land  being  too  high  in  Virginia  for  his 
limited  finances,  Mr.  Goepel  went  West,  in  1872,  and  took  up 
a  homestead  from  the  Government  in  Clay  County,  Kansas. 
Receiving  assistance  from  relatives,  he  built  a  shanty,  turned 
the  sod  and  put  in  his  first  crop  in  1873.  Frequently  he 
would  return  from  his  day's  work  in  the  field,  put  his  supper 
on  the  fire  and  sit  down  and  sleep  until  morning  while  the  sup- 
per burned.  After  harvest  he  needed  lumber  with  which  to 
build  a  granary,  and  drove  to  Clay  Center  for  it,  where  Robert 
Fullerton  was  operating  a  retail  yard  and  supplying  the  re- 
quirements of  the  settlers  in  that  section.  Some  of  the  retail 
yards  then  had  a  territory  100  miles  in  diameter.  Mr.  Fuller- 
ton  had  published  prices  of  various  kinds  of  lumber  handled, 
and  was  somewhat  surprised  when  his  young  German  cus- 
tomer handed  him  a  list  showing  the  number  of  pieces,  feet 
contained  in  each  and  an  extension  made,  at  the  prices  pub- 
lished, all  without  error.  The  lumber  was  white  pine  and  the 
prices  averaged  nearly  $27.50  a  thousand  for  dimension  and 
boards. 

Shortly  after  the  granary  was  built  and  the  wheat  put  in  it,  a 
prairie  fire  destroyed  it  and  much  of  its  contents.  Mr.  Goepel 
then  went  to  town  for  another  load  of  lumber.  Putting  affairs 
in  shape  at  the  farm,  he  decided  to  see  if  he  could  secure 
employment  for  the  winter.  Again  he  met  Mr.  Fullerton, 
whom  he  asked  for  work.  He  said  he  could  do  anything  given 
him  and  would  work  for  enough  to  pay  his  expenses  until  he 
learned  the  business.  He  figured  his  expenses  at  $35  a  month, 
but  when  the  day  of  settlement  came,  found  he  had  been 
allowed  $50. 


FRANK  H.  GOEPEL  103 

Mr.  Goepel  says  the  only  instructions  ever  received  from 
Mr.  Fullerton  were  that  he  would  rather  a  customer  should 
receive  a  foot  more  than  a  foot  less  than  he  paid  for.  Mr. 
Goepel  has  followed  this  principle  ever  since,  and  claims  it  the 
secret  of  his  success. 

Mr.  Goepel  found  the  lumber  business  more  satisfactory 
than  following  the  sea,  taming  colts  or  guiding  the  plow.  In 
1875  Robert  Fullerton's  brother,  S.  H.  Fullerton,  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Chicago  Lumber  &  Coal  Company,  took  charge  of 
the  yard  at  Clay  Center,  and  Robert  went  to  Des  Moines,  tak- 
ing Mr.  Goepel  with  him.  A  yard  was  started  at  East  Des 
Moines,  and  Mr.  Goepel  managed  it  for  several  years. 

By  1879  the  Kansas  boom  was  in  full  flower  and  the  Fuller- 
ton  interests  were  establishing  a  number  of  yards  in  the  State. 
Mr.  Goepel  was  sent  to  Cawker  City,  Mitchell  County,  to  open 
a  yard.  The  nearest  railway  point,  Beloit,  was  twenty  miles 
away.  A  large  amount  of  lumber  was  shipped  to  Beloit  and 
farmers  hired  to  haul  it  to  Cawker  City,  before  anyone  had 
visited  the  latter  place.  S.  H.  Fullerton  was  with  Mr.  Goepel 
on  this  occasion,  and,  after  superintending  the  loading  of  the 
wagons,  they  drove  to  Cawker  City,  went  to  a  real  estate  office, 
leased  the  ground  and  had  a  place  ready  to  unload  the  lumber 
when  the  teams  arrived.  In  time  the  yards  at  Cawker  City 
(there  were  three  others)  became  the  source  of  supply  for 
farmers  forty  or  fifty  miles  around.  The  average  sale  of  each 
yard  was  about  $2,500  a  month. 

Mr.  Goepel  spent  twenty  years  at  Cawker  City,  looking  after 
the  interests  of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company,  which,  later, 
was  reorganized  and  incorporated  as  the  Chicago  Lumber  & 
Coal  Company.  When  the  yard  was  first  put  in  at  this  place 
the  city's  population  was  between  400  and  500;  later,  it  in- 
creased to  1,500,  and  now  is  10,000.  During  his  residence 
there,  Mr.  Goepel  served  five  terms  as  mayor.  Inasmuch  as  the 
salary  attached  to  this  office  was  only  $1  a  month,  he  can  not  be 
accused  of  having  entered  politics  for  what  there  was  in  it. 

As  Mr.  Goepel's  years  of  service  increased  together  with  his 


I04  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

value  to  the  company,  his  income  increased  proportionally. 
His  record  is  one  of  steady,  satisfactory  service  and  of  whole- 
souled  devotion  to  the  interests  intrusted  to  him.  As  the 
business  of  the  Fullerton  brothers  grew,  an  arrangement  was 
perfected  whereby  Mr.  Goepel's  savings  became  a  part  of  the 
capital  of  the  concern,  and  he  received  interest  at  the  same 
rate  as  the  other  investors.  When  the  company  was  incorpo- 
rated he  took  stock  in  it  and  was  made  a  director,  retaining  his 
position  as  manager  of  the  yards  in  Kansas.  When  Mr.  Shel- 
don resigned  the  treasurership  in  1898,  Mr.  Goepel  was 
elected  to  fill  his  place. 

During  the  first  years  of  his  occupancy  of  that  office  he  acted 
as  credit  man  and  as  lumber  buyer  for  the  forty  or  fifty  retail 
yards  owned  by  his  company,  in  which  he  is  now  the  fourth 
principal  stockholder.  He  is  treasurer  also  of  the  Bradley 
Lumber  Company,  of  Warren,  Arkansas;  the  Gulf  Land  & 
Lumber  Company,  of  Stables,  Louisiana,  and  the  Fullerton- 
Powell  Hardwood  Lumber  Company,  of  South  Bend,  Indiana. 

Mr.  Goepel  is  a  Republican  in  politics.  The  only  secret 
order  with  which  he  is  affiliated  is  the  Masons. 

A  predominating  characteristic  of  this  gentleman  is  his 
modest  disposition.  He  faced  the  pirates  with  fair  grace, 
but  when  publicity  is  mentioned  he  trembles  at  the  prospect. 
Mr.  Goepel's  interests  center  in  his  handsome  home  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.  He  married  Miss  Louise  Idatte,  at  Des 
Moines,  June  2,  1879,  and  takes  greater  pride  in  his  family, 
consisting  of  his  wife  and  four  children,  than  he  does  in  his 
business  successes.  The  children  are  Louise,  aged  twenty- 
two;  Emma,  twenty;  Frances,  ten,  and  Alexander,  seven. 
It  is  scarcely  fair,  however,  to  omit  from  his  family  his  wife's 
father,  taken  into  his  home  and  heart  when  he  married,  who 
is  an  honored  member  of  this  happy  circle.  This  action  of 
Mr.  Goepel's  was  typical  of  the  man. 


Cui 


A  fe 
yo  CSS   career  shouid  learn  his 


in  lumber  is  Curtis  Morrison  Jennings,  ot 
ri. 
L  a  at 

scat  of  Ohio  County,  Indiana,  October  24,  i8§2 
of  John  M.  Jennings  and  Sarah  B.  Jennings.  In  this  town  on 
the  Ohio  River  the  boy  spent  his  days  in  school  and  at  play. 
He  was  a  strong,  healthy  lad  when  in  1867  he  left  the  scenes 
of  his  birth  and  went  to  St.  Louis,  then  a  city  slowly  recover- 
ing from  the  effects  of  the  Civil  War.  Seeking  employment, 
chance  took  him  to  the  office  of  Joseph  Bogy  &  Co.,  a  well 
known  lumber  firm,  whef"  ^^  was  given  the  position  of  office 
boy. 

-"  was  John  S.   !■ 

'  *  •  learn,  anu  aavaiJLcuicuL 
ta  '^  "ken  in  the  business 


1 1 ' 


it  was  charactensitic  and 

to  take  advantage  of  an 
&Co 

tr. 


fr 

80MIMM3L     MOSIWCTOM     8ITCTUO 


rA- 


y^ 


W 


CURTIS     MORRISON     JENNINGS 


Curtis  M.   Jennings 


A  few  generations  ago  it  was  deemed  essential  that  the 
young  man  destined  for  a  business  career  should  learn  his 
trade  as  a  whole.  Today,  while  broad  knowledge  is  desirable, 
special  knowledge  is  all  important,  and  the  specialist  is  found 
in  every  walk  of  commercial  and  professional  life.  One  of  the 
pioneer  specialists  in  lumber  is  Curtis  Morrison  Jennings,  of 
St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Curtis  M.  Jennings  was  born  at  Risingsun,  the  county 
seat  of  Ohio  County,  Indiana,  October  24,  1852.  He  is  the  son 
of  John  M.  Jennings  and  Sarah  B.  Jennings.  In  this  town  on 
the  Ohio  River  the  boy  spent  his  days  in  school  and  at  play. 
He  was  a  strong,  healthy  lad  when  in  1867  he  left  the  scenes 
of  his  birth  and  went  to  St.  Louis,  then  a  city  slowly  recover- 
ing from  the  effects  of  the  Civil  War.  Seeking  employment, 
chance  took  him  to  the  office  of  Joseph  Bogy  &  Co.,  a  well 
known  lumber  firm,  where  he  was  given  the  position  of  office 
boy. 

Another  youth  who  entered  the  employ  of  the  firm  a  short 
time  after  Curtis  M.  Jennings  was  John  S.  Berthold.  Both 
lads  were  industrious  and  quick  to  learn,  and  advancement 
came  to  them  as  a  reward  for  the  interest  taken  in  the  business 
of  their  employers.  A  strong  feeling  of  friendliness  sprang 
up  between  the  two  young  men  as  they  labored  together,  and 
there  was  more  or  less  rivalry  between  them,  to  see  who  could 
gain  promotion  first.  Thrift  was  characteristic  of  both,  and 
by  1872  they  had  saved  enough  money  to  take  advantage  of  an 
opportunity  to  buy  out  the  business  of  Joseph  Bogy  &  Co. 

As  the  firm  of  Berthold  &  Jennings,  Mr.  Berthold  and  Mr. 
Jennings  began  the  wholesaling  of  lumber  in  St.  Louis.  Ex- 
perience formed  no  small  part  of  the  assets  of  the  partners,  and 
from  the  start  the  firm's  business  prospered.     Mr.  Jennings 

106 


io6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

was  not  a  dreamer,  nor  did  he  evolve  any  impossible  schemes, 
but  he  did  plan  and  shape  the  affairs  of  the  concern  along 
lines  that  were  out  of  the  ordinary  in  the  lumber  industry. 
Five  years  after  the  firm  was  organized  the  volume  of  business 
demanded  larger  supplies  of  stock  than  could  be  secured  at 
mills  not  controlled  by  the  concern.  To  provide  adequate 
stocks  Mr.  Jennings  proposed  operating  sawmills,  and  mills 
were  secured  in  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  where  yellow  pine 
was  manufactured,  to  be  marketed  in  St.  Louis,  Chicago  and 
the  West  generally.  The  milling  business  was  abandoned  in 
1890,  the  firm  following  the  wholesale  business  exclusively 
and  handling  yellow  pine  and  oak  lumber,  particularly  heavy 
building  timber  and  material  for  railroads  and  car  construc- 
tion. This  line  was  gradually  developed  until  in  a  few  years 
the  retail  trade  was  dropped  altogether  and  the  firm  catered 
alone  to  the  large  consumers.  These  lines  have  been  adhered 
to  steadfastly,  and  the  firm  is  known  throughout  the  country  by 
lumber  contractors  of  great  city  structures  and  factories,  rail- 
road purchasing  agents  and  car  building  companies. 

From  1877  to  1890  Berthold  &  Jennings  maintained  yards 
in  East  St.  Louis,  where  was  carried  a  stock  of  from  4,000,000 
to  5,000,000  feet  of  car  sills.  The  yard  was  discontinued  when 
it  was  found  shipments  could  be  made  promptly  from  the  mills 
where  the  orders  were  placed.  The  firm  places  its  business 
with  several  yellow  pine  mills  in  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana 
and  Mississippi,  taking  practically  all  their  output.  A  yard  is 
operated  in  St.  Louis  to  care  for  certain  lines  of  trade  and  a 
large  stock  is  carried  at  this  point. 

Shortly  after  Berthold  &  Jennings  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
turing line  it  was  found  that  the  transportation  companies  were 
unprepared  to  furnish  rolUng  stock  designed  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  large  timbers.  In  1878  the  firm  bought  100  flat 
cars,  instead  of  relying  upon  the  railroads  for  cars,  and  ten 
years  later  was  incorporated  the  North  &  South  RoUing  Stock 
Company,  of  which  Mr.  Jennings  became  treasurer.  At  the 
time  the  first  order  for  cars  was  placed,  the  Chicago,  St.  Louis 


CURTIS  M.  JENNINGS  107 

&  New  Orleans  Railroad — now  a  part  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad — did  not  have  enough  cars  of  the  proper  length  to 
ship  heavy  lumber,  and  this  was  the  chief  reason  why  the  firm 
decided  to  have  its  own  cars.  The  business  of  the  company 
grew  beyond  the  expectations  of  its  promoters  and  today  the 
North  &  South  Rolling  Stock  Company  has  500  cars,  includ- 
ing refrigerator,  box  and  flat  cars,  in  its  equipment.  Not 
having  use  for  this  number  of  cars  in  its  own  business,  it  has 
leased  many  of  them  to  different  individuals,  corporations  and 
railroads. 

Another  company  in  which  Mr.  Jennings  is  interested  is 
the  Excelsior  Car  Roofing  Company,  of  which  he  is  president. 
This  company,  which  is  incorporated,  manufactures  galvanized 
iron  roofing  at  St.  Louis,  and  the  plant  has  an  annual  capacity 
of  about  15,000  roofs.  The  concern  was  incorporated  in  the 
year  1892. 

From  the  start  Mr.  Jennings'  lumber  career  has  been  that 
of  a  specialist — car  material,  heavy  railroad  and  heavy  building 
material,  and  a  rolling  stock  company  organized  to  own  cars 
for  the  carrying  of  heavy  material,  have  been  his  specialties, 
with  the  car  roofing  business  as  a  side  issue.  But  all  of  these 
lines  are  related,  and  he  has  followed  out  the  ideas  originally 
conceived  when  he  embarked  in  the  lumber  business.  He  has 
not  been  tempted  from  this  path  by  the  success  of  lumbermen 
in  other  lines  of  the  industry — he  has  not  sought  after  strange 
gods  in  new  ventures — but  has  remained  a  specialist. 

During  his  career  in  St.  Louis  in  the  lumber  business  Mr. 
Jennings  found  time,  some  years  ago,  to  act  on  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Citizens'  Bank,  afterward  consolidated  with 
the  American  Exchange  Bank.  For  six  years  he  served  in  the 
directorate  of  this  strong  financial  institution. 

Mr.  Jennings  is  a  man  of  family.  His  wife,  formerly  Miss 
Jeannie  Pitcher,  of  St.  Louis,  together  with  five  children, 
share  his  home.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jennings  were  married  January 
19,  1878.  Their  children  are  Laura,  Curtis  P.,  Marguerite, 
Jeannette  and  Helen. 


io8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Personally,  Mr.  Jennings  is  a  modest,  unassuming  man. 
He  is  greatly  esteemed  in  St.  Louis,  as  he  is  elsewhere,  for  his 
sterling  qualities  of  character  and  for  his  uniform  courtesy. 
He  is  easily  approached,  informal  in  everything  he  does,  in 
either  a  business  or  a  social  way,  and  he  is  excellent  and  agree- 
able company.  His  interest  in  what  pertains  to  the  general 
welfare  of  his  home  city,  while  unostentatiously  shown,  has 
added  largely  to  his  popularity  as  a  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  and, 
incidentally,  to  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  deservedly  held  in 
both  the  society  and  the  business  circles  of  that  city. 


(•Vl  AA  « 


Louis, 
tiie  A.  J.  r  Com- 

pany. 

He  was  born  near  Hamilton,  Butler  County  >    April  6, 

1852.     His  father  and  mother  were  both  origm         "'ennsyl- 
vanians,  but  went  to  Ohio  and   settled  there  in   i  The 

elder  Neimeyer  was  a  farmer,  and  also  operated  a  sash 

sawmill,  which  he  erected  on  the  home  place  about  a  year 
before  the  son^s  birth.     It  was  under  his  father's  sup  on 

that  A.  J.   Neimever  ■         )   his   first  efforts  at  sel  rt, 

devotine  hi9  lr<  md  earlier  manhood  yec  culti- 

the  winter  r  «  he  ?  the 

oti- 

s  began 

in  the  yard 

^,  ,  beinp-  then 


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h 

year,  1882,  1  '^ 

in  1883,  opened 

FI3V3MI3I/I     MOeMHOL    NA/3*=iaJ/lA 


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ANDREW     JOHNSON     NEIMEYER 


Andrew   J.    Neimeyer 


The  necessary  quality  in  a  man's  mental  make-up,  if  he 
would  be  sure  of  success  in  his  business  undertakings,  is  faith 
in  his  own  ability.  One  who  has  had  this  confidence  in  him- 
self, and  who  has,  in  consequence,  wrested  his  share  of  wealth 
from  the  forests,  is  Andrew  Johnson  Neimeyer,  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  at  the  head  of  the  A.  J.  Neimeyer  Lumber  Com- 
pany. 

He  was  born  near  Hamilton,  Butler  County,  Ohio,  April  6, 
1852.  His  father  and  mother  were  both  originally  Pennsyl- 
vanians,  but  went  to  Ohio  and  settled  there  in  1834.  The 
elder  Neimeyer  was  a  farmer,  and  also  operated  a  small  sash 
sawmill,  which  he  erected  on  the  home  place  about  a  year 
before  the  son's  birth.  It  was  under  his  father's  supervision 
that  A.  J.  Neimeyer  began  his  first  efforts  at  self-support, 
devoting  his  later  boyhood  and  earlier  manhood  years  to  culti- 
vating the  soil.  During  the  winter  months  he  attended  the 
common  schools  of  his  neighborhood,  which  training  consti- 
tuted the  whole  of  his  scholastic  experience. 

His  first  practical  experience  in  the  lumber  business  began 
in  a  retail  yard.  In  1869  he  was  given  employment  in  the  yard 
of  his  brother,  John  Neimeyer,  at  Atlantic,  Iowa,  being  then 
seventeen  years  of  age.  In  1878  he  took  charge  as  manager, 
at  Atlantic,  of  a  yard  owned  by  his  brother-in-law,  Robert 
Major,  which  position  he  retained  until  1880.  In  May  of  that 
year  he  opened  a  yard  at  Dorchester,  Nebraska,  and  the  pur- 
chase and  sale  of  lumber  yards  followed  each  other  rapidly 
from  that  time.  He  followed  his  Dorchester  purchase  by  start- 
ing a  yard  at  Odell,  Nebraska,  in  1881.  Twelve  months  later 
he  bought  out  E.  M.  Allen,  at  Juniata,  Nebraska.  In  the  same 
year,  1882,  he  sold  out  the  yards  at  Dorchester  and  Odell,  and, 
in  1883,  opened  yards  at  Kenesaw  and    Minden,  Nebraska. 


no  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Athough  already  a  busy  man,  from  1880  to  1883  he  attended  to 
the  buying  for  the  yard  at  Atlantic,  Iowa.  In  1883-6  he  con- 
ducted his  operations  from  headquarters  at  Minden,  and,  in 
1885,  established  yards  at  Dorchester,  Friend,  Nelson  and 
Edgar,  Nebraska.  This  left  him  in  active  ownership  of  seven 
yards.  In  the  following  year  he  opened  a  yard  at  Hastings, 
Nebraska,  and  there  he  operated  also  in  sash,  doors  and  blinds. 

The  manufacturing  field  was  entered  by  Mr.  Neimeyer  in 
1887,  when  he  organized,  with  C.  R.  Jones,  of  Juniata,  Ne- 
braska, the  A.  J.  Neimeyer  Lumber  Company,  and  operations 
were  started  at  New  Lewisville,  Lafayette  County,  Arkansas. 
He  became  president  of  the  company,  which  opened  an  office 
at  Texarkana,  Arkansas.  In  1888  the  concern  added  a  planing 
mill  at  Waldo,  Arkansas,  and  moved  its  headquarters  to  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  where  a  general  wholesale  business  was  car- 
ried on  until  1890. 

Following  Mr.  Neimeyer's  disposal  of  his  retail  yards  in 
1889,  occurred  his  first  and  only  financial  reverse.  In  the  year 
named  he  moved  to  Denver,  Colorado,  attracted  by  the  possi- 
bilities of  coal  mining.  He  had  charge  of  his  Colorado  inter- 
ests for  one  year,  but,  being  outside  of  his  natural  element, 
the  results  were  disastrous.  He  had  retained,  however,  his 
interests  in  the  South  and  after  his  coal  experience  he  assumed 
charge  of  the  plant  at  Waldo,  Arkansas.  In  1891  the  sales 
offices  of  the  Neimeyer  company  were  reopened  in  St.  Louis, 
having  been  abandoned  in  1889,  and  Mr.  Neimeyer  has  made 
his  headquarters  there  ever  since.  In  1901  the  company  cut 
out  at  Waldo  and  the  business  was  closed  up,  the  concern  hav- 
ing cut  about  15,000,000  feet  of  lumber  a  year  during  its  active 

operations. 

Subsequent  to  his  disposition  of  his  retail  interests  in  1889, 
Mr.  Neimeyer  again  entered  the  retail  field.  In  January, 
1901,  together  with  G.  M.  Maas,  he  organized  the  Maas- 
Neimeyer  Lumber  Company,  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  though 
in  September,  1902,  Mr.  Neimeyer  sold  his  interest  in  this 
business  to  his  partner. 


ANDREW  J.  NEIMEYER  m 

In  1895  Mr.  Neimeyer  and  others  organized  the  Saginaw 
Lumber  Company,  at  Saginaw,  Arkansas.  The  company,  of 
which  Mr.  Neimeyer  is  president,  is  operating  at  that  point, 
cutting  yellow  pine  to  the  extent  of  about  15,000,000  feet 
annually  and  having,  in  connection,  a  logging  road  twenty- 
three  miles  long.  It  has  several  years'  cut  yet  in  sight  and 
available  timber  back  of  that  for  further  operations. 

One  of  the  best-known  organizations  of  which  Mr. Neimeyer 
is  the  executive  head  is  the  Monarch  Lumber  Company,  of  St. 
Louis,  a  wholesale  concern.  It  was  organized  February  15, 
1898,  as  a  selling  agency  for  the  A.  J.  Neimeyer  Lumber 
Company,  the  Freeman  Lumber  Company,  the  Saginaw  Lum- 
ber Company  and  the  Bluff  City  Lumber  Company.  A 
reorganization  of  the  selling  concern  was  made  January  i, 
1900,  when  the  Saginaw  company  alone  was  retained  as  an 
affiliated  company.  Since  then,  however,  two  other  concerns 
—the  Bienville  Lumber  Company,  of  Alberta,  Louisiana,  and 
the  Columbia  Lumber  Company,  of  Lumber,  Arkansas — have 
been  taken  over.  The  Saginaw  company's  plant  has  an  output 
of  about  65,000  feet  a  day;  the  Bienville  company,  125,000  feet 
daily,  and  the  Columbia  company,  60,000  feet  a  day.  The 
Bienville  company  has  timber  holdings  approximating  100,- 
000,000  feet,  having  bought  40,000,000  feet  of  pine  timber  in 
Bienville  and  Red  River  parishes  late  in  1904.  Mr.  Neimeyer 
is  president  of  the  three  companies  named. 

One  of  the  larger  interests  of  Mr.  Neimeyer  is  in  80,000 
acres  of  mixed  pine  and  hardwood  timber  lands  in  Pulaski, 
Saline  and  Perry  counties,  Arkansas.  Mr.  Neimeyer  bought 
this  timber  and  organized  the  A.  J.  Neimeyer  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  of  which  corporation  he  is 
president.  Associated  with  him  in  the  enterprise  were  W.  A. 
Davenport,  who  became  vice  president;  Frank  Neimeyer, 
secretary  and  treasurer;  Joseph  Fuess  and  Charles  Becker,  the 
latter  two  of  Belleville,  Illinois.  The  company  was  incorpo- 
rated with  an  authorized  capital  of  $750,000.  An  estimate  of 
69)979-91  acres  of  this  land  showed    it  contained  316,776,300 


112  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

feet  of  pine  and  81,961,190  feet  of  oak,  a  total  of  398,737,490 
feet,  or  an  average  of  about  5,697  feet  to  the  acre.  While 
operations  have  not  been  started  on  the  timber,  plans  have  been 
drawn  for  the  building  of  a  modern  mill  and  surveys  made  for 
a  railroad. 

Mr.  Neimeyer  has  been  a  strong  association  man.  Upon 
the  organization  of  the  Arkansas  &  Missouri  Yellow  Pine 
Company,  in  1895,  he  was  made  president  and  held  that  posi- 
tion until  its  disbandment  in  1897.  Since  1891  he  has  been 
treasurer  or  director  of  the  Southern  Lumber  Manufacturers* 
Association. 

Mr.  Neimeyer  married  Miss  Salena  M.  Hollcroft,  of 
Emporia,  Kansas,  March  i,  1883.  His  immediate  family  con- 
sists of  only  himself  and  his  wife  and  the  couple  make  their 
home  in  St.  Louis,  enjoying  the  social  life  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Neimeyer  is  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Club  of  St. 
Louis,  and  is  a  good  and  loyal  Hoo-Hoo,  having  been  among 
the  earlier  members  of  that  fraternity.  He  is  devoted  to  tennis 
and  other  outdoor  sports  and  is  an  enthusiastic  baseball  sup- 
porter. He  has  surrounded  himself  in  business  with  capable 
lieutenants,  and,  because  of  their  able  assistance,  he  impresses 
the  casual  observer  as  a  man  of  unusual  leisure,  though  he  is, 
in  business  hours,  one  of  the  busiest  of  men  in  a  busy  community. 


^rcss  .^ 


in  fhe  vounp-  Renublic  and  many  of  L 

1  or  three  generations  in  tii-  

, ^  ..,..,..  .....d.     In  this  country,  i.  they 

found  chance  for  a  free  expansion  of  their  cnergic.  ere 

they  shaped  their  careers  and  sought  and  found  pos  md 

fortune.     One  of  these  men  who,  in  his  place  and  tim^  ^  -"d 

the  high  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and,  in  a  moi  , 

achieved  a  genuine  success  in  the  lumber  business,  was  v  .  .  les 
Frederich  Luehrmann,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  who  died  u\  that 
cit  ^  '^er  24,  I- 

s  of 


to 


When  • 
parents  Ic^ 


MMAMHH3U_J    H  O  I  f=l  3  a  3  J=»  ■=!    83_IJ=iAHC> 


OHARL-ES    FREDERICH    L.U  EI  H  R  M  A  N  N 


Charles   F.   Luehrmann 


Teuton  blood,  with  its  characteristics  of  stalwart  intellect, 
courage,  conservatism  and  fixity  of  purpose,  has  given  to  the 
United  States  many  of  its  best  and  most  public  spirited  and 
devoted  citizens.  The  German  race  has  been  influential  in 
furthering  the  progress  of  industry,  commerce,  science  and  art 
in  the  young  Republic  and  many  of  the  men  most  prominent 
during  the  last  two  or  three  generations  in  the  United  States 
were  born  in  the  fatherland.  In  this  country,  however,  they 
found  chance  for  a  free  expansion  of  their  energies  and  here 
they  shaped  their  careers  and  sought  and  found  position  and 
fortune.  One  of  these  men  who,  in  his  place  and  time,  gained 
the  high  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and,  in  a  modest  way, 
achieved  a  genuine  success  in  the  lumber  business,  was  Charles 
Frederich  Luehrmann,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  who  died  in  that 
city  on  September  24,  1900. 

He  lived  an  honorable  and  upright  life  in  the  metropolis  of 
Missouri,  where  he  built  up  a  business  structure  that  has  sur- 
vived his  passing  and  which  for  years,  doubtless,  will  serve  to 
commemorate  his  name.  He  was  a  man  of  mental  force, 
strong,  industrious,  far-seeing  and  resourceful.  He  was  a 
public-spirited  man  as  well,  and  sought  to  give  an  uplifting 
hand  to  his  city  and  State,  his  adopted  country  and  his  friends. 
He  proved  himself  a  brave  soldier  in  the  war  between  the  Blue 
and  the  Gray  and  won  promotion  from  the  ranks  by  his  ability 
to  command  men. 

Charles  Frederich  Luehrmann  came  of  a  fine  old  German 
ancestry.  He  was  born  in  Wester,  Olendorf,  Amt  Melle, 
Hanover,  March  15,  1835.  His  father  was  Herman  Luehr- 
mann, his  mother  Anna  Mary  (nee  Meier). 

When  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  but  three  years  old  his 
parents  left  the   land   of  their,  and    his,  birth  and  came  to 

113 


114  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

America.  It  is  a  somewhat  curious  fact  that  the  son  never 
returned  to  Germany  and  never  again  saw  any  of  his  relatives 
in  the  German  Empire.  His  identity  with  the  United  States 
from  early  age  was  so  complete  that  there  was  no  call  of  hered- 
ity, and  the  opportunity  did  not  arise  for  return  as  a  tourist. 

The  Luehrmann  family,  in  1839,  settled  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
which,  at  that  time,  although  fifth  in  population  among  the 
cities  of  the  country,  had  only  about  45,000  population.  It  was 
in  that  city  that  Mr.  Luehrmann  received  his  early  training  and 
schooHng  along  with  his  brothers,  Chris,  John  H.  and  William 
Luehrmann,  and  a  sister.  In  accordance  with  the  custom  in 
those  days,  which  insisted  that  a  suitable  preparation  for  life 
consisted  in  an  apprenticeship  to  some  trade,  which  the  youth 
of  the  period  were  expected  to  master  and  follow,  Charles 
Luehrmann,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  went  to  work  with  a 
carpenter  under  a  contract  made  by  his  father.  He  was  an  apt 
lad  and  made  considerable  progress  in  mastering  the  use  of  the 
tools  and  lumber.  In  fact,  the  experience  then  gained  was  of 
great  assistance  to  him  later,  in  his  career  as  a  lumberman,  as  it 
gave  him  an  insight  into  the  various  uses  of  the  product  of  the 
saw  and  planing  mill  and  was  the  foundation  of  his  large  knowl- 
edge of  the  demands  of  lumber  consumers. 

Leaving  Cincinnati  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  Mr.  Luehr- 
mann went  to  St.  Louis  in  1854,  perhaps  inspired  by  an 
inherent  wanderlust ;  certainly  attracted  by  the  growing  prom- 
inence of  St.  Louis  as  the  then  time  metropoHs  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and,  perhaps,  with  some  definite  purpose  of 
widening  his  experience  and  knowledge.  He  found  a  position 
with  the  Mississippi  Planing  Mill  Company,  a  concern  which 
is  still  in  existence,  at  the  corner  of  Thirteenth  and  O'Fallon 
streets.  For  eleven  years— from  1854  to  1865,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  time  he  served  in  the  Confederate  army— he  was  with 
this  concern. 

It  was  in  May  of  the  first  year  of  the  Civil  War  that  Mr. 
Luehrmann  enlisted  in  the  Missouri  Home  Guards,  to  fight 
for  the  cause  in  which  he  sincerely  believed  and  for  which  he 


CHARLES  F.  LUEHRMANN  115 

was  willing  to  make  the  greatest  sacrifice  demanded  of  men. 
Though  he  entered  the  regiment  as  a  private,  he  was  advanced 
in  rank  from  time  to  time  and  when  mustered  out  he  was 
captain  of  the  company.  While  most  of  his  service  was  within 
the  confines  of  the  State,  his  record  was  no  less  full  of  valorous 
deeds.  One  of  his  brothers,  Chris,  was  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  with  no  business  con- 
nections and  with  the  future  open  before  him,  he  cast  about  for 
employment  of  his  talents  and  energies.  Notwithstanding  his 
previous  experience,  he  did  not  at  once  engage  in  the  lumber 
trade;  instead,  he  became  identified  with  the  tobacco  broker- 
age business.  In  1866,  however,  he  started  a  planing  mill  and 
box  factory  on  Cass  Avenue,  St.  Louis,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Woerheide  and  Luehrmann,  employing  a  force  of  150 
hands.  This  business  prospered,  but  in  1875  ^^  ^^^  compelled 
to  give  it  up  because  of  a  growing  defect  of  his  hearing.  In 
this  year,  1875,  he  became  a  commission  lumberman,  estab- 
lishing an  office  at  1526  Biddle  Street,  St.  Louis,  where  he 
remained  for  fifteen  years.  The  commission  branch  of  the 
industry  was  one  of  particular  distinction  in  those  days  and  the 
methods  in  vogue  differed  somewhat  from  those  of  today. 
Mr.  Luehrmann,  during  this  time,  handled  a  great  deal  of 
lumber  by  barge  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  introduce  cotton- 
wood  as  a  substitute  for  poplar  in  the  St.  Louis  market,  and 
was  among  the  leaders  in  bringing  this  wood,  which  up  to  that 
time  had  been  neglected,  into  general  use. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  admitted  his  son,  George  E.  W.,  into  the 
business  on  October  21,  1890,  and  the  institution  was  incorpo- 
rated as  the  Charles  F.  Luehrmann  Hardwood  Lumber  Com- 
pany, which  name  it  retains  at  the  date  of  this  publication. 
Offices  were  established  at  148  Carroll  Street,  St.  Louis,  and 
yards  near  the  freight  station  of  the  St.  Louis,  Iron  Mountain 
&  Southern  Railway.  The  officers  of  the  company  were 
Charles  F.  Luehrmann,  president;  G.  E.  W.  Luehrmann, 
secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Edward  H.  Luehrmann,  vice 
president. 


ii6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Operations  concerned  with  the  supply  of  lumber  for  this 
business,  which  grew  to  large  magnitude,  were  carried  on  at 
Avenue  Landing,  Missouri,  and  Metropolis,  Illinois,  and,  later, 
at  Luehrmann,  Marianna,  Luxora  and  Biggers,  Arkansas. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was 
Miss  Louise  Kurtz,  whom  he  wedded  in  1855  and  whose  death 
occurred  in  1864.  By  this  marriage  Mr.  Luehrmann  had  two 
daughters,  Mrs.  Mamie  Brueggeman  and  Mrs.  Louise 
Boecker,  of  St.  Louis.  On  November  13,  1865,  he  took  as 
his  second  wife  Miss  Mary  C.  Welcker,  by  whom  he  had 
three  sons,  George  Ernest  William,  Edward  H.  and  Alfred 
Luehrmann.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  Hfe  Mr.  Luehr- 
mann relaxed  in  his  devotion  to  business  pursuits  and  traveled 
extensively  through  the  United  States,  adding  to  his  experi- 
ence and  mental  equipment  those  acquirements  which  contact 
with  different  peoples  will  bring.  He  was  fond  of  social  life 
and  of  fiUing  his  home  with  friends.  He  was  a  lover  of  music 
and  an  earnest  patron  of  the  musical  art.  He  was  a  lover  of 
nature  and  animal  life,  also,  and  had  a  stable  with  blooded 
horses  which  he  himself  drove.  Part  of  his  recreation  was  in 
getting  away  from  the  cares  of  business.  He  was  fond  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  to  which  he  devoted  frequent  intervals  in 
the  midst  of  business  cares. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  was  a  Republican  in  politics,  but  never 
took  an  active  part  in  any  political  campaign,  neither  was  he  a 
member  of  any  fraternal  order.  His  religious  affiliations  were 
with  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


to  e:  c  It.     Lite  is 

s  to  do  things  and  to  ^ 

le  main  thing  were  to  make  the 
V  opportunities.  The 
the  first  promis- 
ing chance,  without  consideration  of  ss  of  the 
career  involved  in  it,  and  who  is  willing  to  d  per- 
sistently for  all  the  advantage  there  is  in  his  ai  :  pursuit,  is 
sure  to  win  at  least  a  measure  of  success.  Such  a  one  has  been 
George  E.  W.  Luehrmann,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

George  Ernest  William  Luehrmann  is  the  son  of  Charles 

Frederuh  Luehrmann  a  .Welcker)  Luehrmann.  He 

in  fit  Mqrch  25,   1868.     St.  Louis 

the  head  center  of  his 

"  .!r%^ctacular  or  thrilling 

'""'■"'  service   in   a 

as  a  lumber 

ilia  arge  fortune. 

graduated  fr^ 
years  o^ 
LumI 
^  ot  6t.  L( 


t  ic  rci 

chand  of  ha. 

HMAMRH3U-J     MAl 


f 


cseorge:   e:rne:sx   vOilliam    uuehrmann 


George   E.  W.    Luehrmann 


Fortunate  is  the  man  who  is  born  to  good  opportunity; 
more  fortunate  is  the  man  who  is  born  with  a  faculty  to  see  an 
opportunity  and  with  a  will  to  embrace  it.  Life  is  full  of  op- 
portunities, or  chances  to  do  things  and  to  acquire  advantages, 
and  sometimes  it  seems  as  if  the  main  thing  were  to  make  the 
most  desirable  selection  among  the  many  opportunities.  The 
boy  or  young  man  who  is  willing  to  embrace  the  first  promis- 
ing chance,  without  consideration  of  the  strenuousness  of  the 
career  involved  in  it,  and  who  is  willing  to  work  hard  and  per- 
sistently for  all  the  advantage  there  is  in  his  allotted  pursuit,  is 
sure  to  win  at  least  a  measure  of  success.  Such  a  one  has  been 
George  E.  W.  Luehrmann,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

George  Ernest  William  Luehrmann  is  the  son  of  Charles 
Frederich  Luehrmann  and  Mary  (Welcker)  Luehrmann.  He 
was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  March  25,  1868.  St.  Louis 
is  still  Mr.  Luehrmann's  home  and  the  head  center  of  his 
business  affairs.  There  is  nothing  very  spectacular  or  thrilling 
in  the  recital  of  his  career  from  his  boyhood  service  in  a 
pioneer  hardwood  yard  to  his  mature  manhood  as  a  lumber 
manufacturer,  dealer  and  timber  owner,  with  a  large  fortune. 

He  began  his  schooling  at  an  early  age  and  graduated  from 
high  school  in  1886,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  His 
first  employment  was  with  the  J.  Verden  Lumber  Company, 
one  of  the  pioneer  hardwood  concerns  of  St.  Louis.  Late  in 
the  same  year  that  he  left  school  he  became  engaged  with  the 
Barry  Hardwood  Lumber  Company,  where  he  remained  about 
six  months,  in  the  meantime  familiarizing  himself  with  the 
rudiments  of  the  business.  In  1887  he  became  bookkeeper 
for  the  St.  Louis  Lumber  Company.  In  these  several  connec- 
tions he  received  a  general  tuition  in  the  handling  and  mer- 
chandising of  hardwood  lumber,  which  included  various  yard 

117 


ii8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  office  details.  It  was  not  long  before  the  young  man's 
industry  and  intelligence  commended  him  to  his  employers 
and  he  was  made  assistant  manager  of  the  business.  He  re- 
mained in  this  relation  until  October  21,  1890,  when  he  formed, 
with  his  father,  the  Charles  F.  Luehrmann  Hardwood  Lumber 

Company. 

The  officers  of  this  organization  were  Charles  F.  Luehr- 
mann, president;  George  E.  W.  Luehrmann,  secretary  and 
treasurer,  and  Edward  H.  Luehrmann,  a  younger  son,  vice 
president.  The  capital  of  the  company  was  $25,000,  but  this  was 
increased  to  $120,000.  With  the  growth  of  the  business  the 
capital  was  again  increased  to  $200,000,  in  1901.  The  death 
of  the  senior  Luehrmann  in  1900  left  the  sole  control  of  the 
business  in  the  hands  of  George  E.  W.  Luehrmann.  Upon 
the  reorganization  of  the  company  George  E.  W.  Luehr- 
mann became  president;  E.  H.  Luehrmann,  vice  president, 
and  Thomas  W.  Fry  became  a  director  and  also  an  officer. 

In  the  same  year  the  Luehrmanns  and  Mr.  Fry  organized 
and  incorporated  the  Indiana  &  Arkansas  Lumber  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  with  a  mill  plant  at  Marianna,  Lee 
County,  Arkansas,  a  situation  in  the  midst  of  the  richest  and 
most  extensive  hardwood  section  of  the  State.  Mr.  Luehr- 
mann is  president  of  this  company;  E.  H.  Luehrmann,  vice 
president,  and  M.  P.  Fulton,  secretary  and  general  manager. 
As  fast  as  the  profits  of  the  business  accumulated  a  surplus  it 
was  invested  in  timber  lands,  mainly  or  altogether  hardwoods. 
These  purchases  continued  to  be  made  until  the  company  had 
acquired  stumpage  to  the  amount  of  500,000,000  feet,  which 
may  be  claimed  as  an  extraordinarily  large  holding  of  standing 
hardwood.  The  company  manufactures  about  25,000,000  feet 
of  lumber  a  year,  consisting  of  oak,  gum  and  a  general  Hne  of 
southern  hardwoods.  Its  methods  of  manufacture  are  as 
thorough  as  are  those  pertaining  to  the  distributing  business 

in  St.  Louis. 

From  the  time   Mr.  Luehrmann  assumed  the  executive 
office  in  his  company  he  has  manifested  a  remarkable  energy 


GEORGE  E.  W.  LUEHRMANN  119 

in  pushing  forward  enterprises  that  would  conduce  to  its 
prosperity  and  progress.  While,  without  doubt,  the  other 
members  of  the  Luehrmann  company  have  contributed  a  large 
share  of  the  success  of  their  enterprises,  it  is  plain  that  the 
executive  and  managerial  functions,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  present  state  of  the  distributive  and  manufacturing  branches, 
have  been  performed  by  the  president. 

One  of  Mr.  Luehrmann's  strong  characteristics  is  his  con- 
servativeness.  It  is  his  habit  to  be  very  careful  about  coming 
to  a  decision  concerning  any  business  proposition  that  may  be 
made  to  him  and  to  delay  his  conclusions  until  he  has  fully 
digested  the  merits  of  the  case  and  weighed  accurately  all  of 
its  elements.  After  he  has  made  up  his  mind  that  the  propo- 
sition is  a  good  one  and  has  resolved  to  undertake  carrying  it 
into  effect  he  proceeds  at  once  and  pushes  it  with  all  the 
means  and  power  at  his  command,  never  doubting  that  it  will 
be  a  success.  Thus  he  evinces  confidence  in  his  own  ability 
to  arrive  at  safe  conclusions  and  is  ready  to  stake  any  reason- 
able amount  on  the  result.  The  fact  that  the  Luehrmann 
interests  have  within  fifteen  years  developed  from  a  capital  of 
$25,000  to  one  of  $1,000,000  and  are  backed  by  500,000,000 
feet  of  standing  timber  and  a  large  sawmill  industry,  proves 
that  he  has  not  been  a  victim  of  misplaced  confidence  in 
himself. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  more  than  once  has  explained  the  reason 
for  his  early  investments  in  timber  lands.  He  has  said  that  he 
had  noticed  that  most  lumbermen  in  Michigan  who  had  bought 
stumpage  became  rich.  It  was  his  observation  that  the  men 
who  simply  owned  mills  did  not  necessarily  become  rich, 
while  others  who  were  strictly  dealers  or  yardmen  did,  in  some 
instances,  make  money.  He  was  not  entirely  satisfied  until 
he  had  come  into  possession  of  timber,  the  advancing  price  of 
which  annually  added  to  his  assets.  Being  accustomed  to 
hardwoods  and  having  a  large  trade  in  southern  lumber,  he 
naturally  concluded  that  if  there  was  profit  to  be  had  from  the 
ownership  of  pine  lands,  which  are   of  small  value  after  the 


I20  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

timber  shall  have  been  removed,  there  certainly  must  be  in 
the  hardwood  areas  of  the  South,  which  are  rich  in  agricultural 
possibilities  that  can  be  realized  after  the  trees  have  been  con- 
verted into  lumber. 

As  is  the  case  with  many  other  timber  owners  and  lumber 
manufacturers,  Mr.  Luehrmann  is  a  railroad  man.  He  is 
president  of  the  L'Anguille  River  Railroad,  which  extends 
into  the  forest  from  Marianna,  primarily  built  for  hauling  logs, 
but  which  eventually  will  become  a  traffic  line.  He  is  presi- 
dent also,  of  the  Wayne  Manufacturing  Company,  of  St.  Louis, 
a  prosperous  concern  that  turns  out  washing  machines.  In  a 
short  time  after  he  had  taken  hold  of  this  business  the  product 
of  the  factory  was  increased  50  percent.  Mr.  Luehrmann  is 
vice  president  of  the  Krimminger  Saw  Mill  Company,  of  Big- 
gers,  Arkansas,  which  is  employed  regularly  in  cutting  hard- 
wood lumber.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Lincoln  Trust  &  Title 
Company,  a  banking  institution  of  St.  Louis,  which  has  a 
capital  of  $1,500,000.  He  was  for  many  years  a  director  of 
the  Hardwood  Lumber  Exchange,  of  St.  Louis,  and  has  served 
as  vice  president  of  the  Hardwood  Lumber  Manufacturers' 
Association  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  is  a  member  of  the  Union  Club,  of  St. 
Louis,  and  is  interested  in  social  life,  though  in  this  respect  he 
lacks  the  aid  and  prestige  enjoyed  by  a  married  man,  for  he 
is  a  bachelor.  He  is  a  lover  of  music  and  dotes  on  the  posses- 
sion of  an  ancient  violin,  which  he  received  from  an  old 
steamboat  captain.     This  instrument  dates  back  to   1642. 

Mr.  Luehrmann  is  a  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 
He  is  a  man  of  high  character  as  well  as  ability.  He  has 
traveled  extensively  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe,  and, 
while  his  achievements  each  year  have  been  remarkable,  he  has 
not  failed  to  enjoy  and  profit  by  that  education  which  comes 
from  travel,  and  has  enriched  his  life  by  participating  in  the 
refinements  of  social  intercourse  and  literary  culture. 


il  in  t  ag 

t  business  houses.  '^ce  Clark,  of 

St.  Louis,  In  ;ri,  is  widely  known  as  a  r  expert  and 

has  had  considerable  influence  in  the  development  of  lumber 

manufacture  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Clark  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  lumber  business 
as  a  yard  hand  at  a  mill  belonging  to  his  father,  at  Hunters 
Creek,  Michigan.  He  was  born  in  the  Wolverine  State,  and 
in  his  earlier  experience  he  learned  much  about  the  white  pine 
production  of  the  North  ^s  than  two  decades  ago  he  left 

his  native  State  to  fr  nber  business  in  the  Southwest, 

r  nerp'ie?  and  p-ained  an  enviable 


-  I,  1854,  at  Hunters  Creek, 

on  the  Bay  City  division 

ut  fifty-five  miles  north 

>ark,  an  Englishman,  and 

xuwiisend    Clark,  who   came    of 

ry.     The  father  was  the  o -     ' 

lu  and  industry,  made  it   ~ 


his   mother  was   jl-hz 
o  —  -vlvania  Dutch  ;5 


I  * 


r  \ 


lU  li 


saw; 

of  circular 


MRA-JO     33_i    -iJiHU 


vas 
that  period, 


URIEL    LEE    CLARK 


Uriel    L.  Clark 


A  distinct  line  of  the  lumber  industry  which  has  grown  to 
large  proportions  in  recent  years,  more  particularly  in  the 
Southwest,  is  the  buying  and  selling  of  timber  lands.  This 
field  has  attracted  from  manufacturing  itself  many  who,  by 
their  training  and  enterprise,  have  been  successful  in  building 
up  large  and  important  business  houses.  Uriel  Lee  Clark,  of 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  is  widely  known  as  a  timber  expert  and 
has  had  considerable  influence  in  the  development  of  lumber 
manufacture  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Clark  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  lumber  business 
as  a  yard  hand  at  a  mill  belonging  to  his  father,  at  Hunters 
Creek,  Michigan.  He  was  born  in  the  Wolverine  State,  and 
in  his  earlier  experience  he  learned  much  about  the  white  pine 
production  of  the  North.  Less  than  two  decades  ago  he  left 
his  native  State  to  follow  the  lumber  business  in  the  Southwest, 
and  it  is  there  he  devoted  his  energies  and  gained  an  enviable 
reputation  among  lumbermen. 

Uriel  L.  Clark  was  born  October  i,  1854,  at  Hunters  Creek, 
a  town  in  Lapeer  County,  Michigan,  on  the  Bay  City  division 
of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  about  fifty-five  miles  north 
of  Detroit.  His  father  was  John  Clark,  an  Englishman,  and 
his  mother  was  Elizabeth  Townsend  Clark,  who  came  of 
Pennsylvania  Dutch  ancestry.  The  father  was  the  owner  of 
a  farm,  and,  by  his  thrift  and  industry,  made  it  a  valuable 
property  and  saved  sufficient  money  to  enable  him  to  engage 
in  the  manufacture  of  lumber.  Young  Clark  spent  his  youth- 
ful days  on  the  farm  and  in  acquiring  an  education  such  as  is 
afforded  by  the  district  school  in  a  farming  community. 

When  Uriel  Clark  was  eighteen  years  old  his  father  built  a 
sawmill  and  began  the  manufacture  of  lumber.  The  mill  was 
of  circular  type  and  was  a  good-sized  plant  for  that  period, 

121 


122  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

having  a  capacity  of  from  40,000  to  50,000  feet  a  day.  When 
the  mill  was  put  into  operation  young  Clark  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  his  father  as  a  general  hand  in  the  yard,  where  he 
sorted  and  piled  lumber,  before  going  into  the  mill  itself  to 
study  the  details  of  manufacture.  When  winter  came  he  went 
into  the  woods  with  the  crews  and  took  a  hand  in  the  cutting 
and  skidding  of  logs.  Five  years  spent  about  the  mill  and  in 
the  woods  had  well  prepared  him  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
business  conducted  by  his  father,  so  in  1877  he  was  taken  into 
partnership  and  the  firm  continued  as  J.  Clark  &  Son.  Al- 
though the  firm  owned  some  timber  the  policy  was  followed 
of  buying  from  various  owners  and  conserving  its  own  timber 
holdings  as  long  as  it  was  possible  to  secure  a  supply  of  logs  for 
the  mill  from  outside  lumbermen.  In  the  earlier  stages  logs 
were  not  hard  to  secure,  but  as  white  pine  in  that  section  began 
to  be  cut  out,  as  much  as  $100  an  acre  was  paid  for  timber 
lands.  Mr.  Clark  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  business  in 
1890  to  his  two  younger  brothers,  Arthur  J.  and  Ward  B. 
Clark. 

By  this  time  little  in  the  way  of  white  pine  that  was  not  held 
at  an  extremely  high  figure  was  to  be  found  in  the  section  of 
country  familiar  to  Mr.  Clark.  Yellow  pine  was  coming  more 
to  the  fore,  and  he  had  considered  the  southern  field  and  its 
opportunities.  Going  to  Missouri,  he  examined  some  timber 
lands  and  bought  a  considerable  acreage  for  himself.  In  the 
same  year  he  went  South  he  undertook  a  sawmill  operation  at 
Winona,  Shannon  County,  Missouri.  It  was  in  that  State  he 
began  on  a  larger  scale  the  buying  and  selling  of  timber  lands, 
and  he  remained  there  cleaning  up  several  timber  deals  until 
1893,  when  he  commenced  investing  in  timber  lands  in  Ar- 
kansas. In  the  latter  State  he  bought  considerable  timber. 
Early  in  1897  he  sold  a  tract  of  yellow  pine  timber  in  Arkansas 
for  $8.25  an  acre,  the  price  named  being  thought  to  be  the 
highest  that  ever  had  been  paid  for  yellow  pine  timber  in 
Arkansas  up  to  that  time. 

Later,  Mr.  Clark  became  interested  in  timber  properties 


URIEL  L.  CLARK  123 

in  Louisiana  and  he  bought  and  sold  much  land  in  Winn  and 
Natchitoches  parishes.  As  an  illustration  of  the  rapid  growth 
in  the  value  of  timber  lands,  Mr.  Clark  in  1899  sold  some  land 
for  $10.25  an  acre  for  which  he  had  paid  but  $3  an  acre  the 
year  before.  Invariably  his  investments  in  timber  land  have 
been  profitable,  though  the  success  which  has  attended  his 
efforts  can  be  ascribed  partly  to  the  training  which  he  has  had 
in  the  value  of  timber.  One  large  deal  of  Mr.  Clark's  was  the 
sale  of  40,000  acres  to  northern  parties.  He  has  been  active 
in  acquiring  timber  tracts  involving  from  5,000  to  50,000  acres 
and  his  company  now  has  75,000  acres  in  a  solid  body  in  south- 
western Arkansas.  He  owns  other  timber  land  and  valuable 
mineral  properties. 

For  the  purpose  of  dealing  in  timber  lands  Mr.  Clark,  in 
1896,  organized  the  Detroit  Timber  &  Lumber  Company, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  f  10,000.  Mr.  Clark  became  president ; 
John  G.  Ferguson,  secretary,  and  W.  B.  Clark,  Mr.  Clark's 
brother,  vice  president.  In  1898  the  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany was  increased  to  $40,000.  The  business  has  grown 
steadily,  so  that,  while  several  cash  dividends  have  been  paid 
to  the  stockholders,  the  company  now  has  a  paid-in  capital  of 
$500,000. 

Mr.  Clark's  career  has  not  been  all  in  the  direction  of 
success.  He  has  met  with  reverses,  as  has  nearly  every  other 
man  of  enterprise,  and  one  of  these  losing  ventures  was  in  the 
operation  of  a  sawmill  at  Rochelle,  Louisiana.  He  had 
$10,000  which  he  invested  in  this  plant  in  1896,  but  the  propo- 
sition did  not  prove  profitable  and  his  capital  was  wiped  out. 
However,  more  capital  was  put  in,  which  enabled  Mr.  Clark 
in  the  following  year  to  recoup  his  losses,  and  then  he  moved 
to  St.  Louis  to  direct  his  timber  operations  in  the  Southwest 
from  that  city. 

One  of  the  large  deals  made  by  Mr.  Clark  was  consum- 
mated in  1901,  when  he  bought  the  property  of  the  Martin 
Alexander  Lumber  Company,  which  included  10,000  acres  of 
timber,  five    miles  of  railroad,  saw  and   planing   mills.     His 


124  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

company  purchased  20,000  acres  more,  making  a  30,000-acre 
tract,  and  a  few  months  later  this  property  was  sold  to  Wis- 
consin people. 

Mr.  Clark  has  a  beautiful  home  in  St.  Louis,  at  4010 
Lindell  Avenue,  where  he  resides  with  his  wife  and  one 
daughter.  He  married,  October  6,1879,  Miss  Lillie  M.  Lamb, 
daughter  of  a  banker  of  Imlay  City,  Michigan.  He  has  a  sum- 
mer home  near  Detroit  and  a  stock  farm  of  500  acres  upon 
which  is  a  herd  of  fine  shorthorn  cattle. 

Mr.  Clark  is  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Club  and  the 
Glen  Echo  Club,  in  St.  Louis.  Among  his  outside  interests 
is  the  Earl  Mining  Company,  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 


P-i-rrr 


c  tncir  cii  tnat 

detects  oJ  T 

arc  accentuated,  and  the  man  who  in  o  ^  life  would  have 

?d  becomes  the  victim  oi  his  own  magnified 
weakness.  The  more  credit  is  due,  therefore,  to  the  man 
who,  when  honored  with  a  high  office  as  a  reward  for  faithful 
service,  is  able  to  wear  his  laurels  with  grace  and  credit  to 
himself. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  younger  of  the 
second  generation  of  yellow  pine  lumbermen  of  the  South. 
He  is  r  rough  lumberman,  for  experi- 

ence has  f  m  the  business  in  its  different  phases  and  he 

of  interests  for  a  man  who  has  not  yet 
leDost  of  his  career.     He  was  des- 


V. 

pOSifi'^n   r. 

Oi    1  u  ■;    », .  I    i-f  i_  . 

that  has  L.i.tii  v_uijn.frcd  \ 

and  *■    *    '■ 

H 


sey, 
was  a   . 


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ing 

principles, 
four  years 

ARTHUR     CLARK     RAMSEY 


Arthur   C.  Ramsey 


It  is  fortunate  for  most  men  that  Fate  moves  them  but  little 
from  the  rut  of  their  existence.  Prosperity  and  success  are 
adverse  influences  to  some  natures  and  many  men  can  not  en- 
dure an  elevation  to  a  position  above  their  fellows.  In  that 
fierce  light  which  beats  upon  a  throne  the  defects  of  character 
are  accentuated,  and  the  man  who  in  ordinary  life  would  have 
passed  unnoticed  becomes  the  victim  of  his  own  magnified 
weakness.  The  more  credit  is  due,  therefore,  to  the  man 
who,  when  honored  with  a  high  office  as  a  reward  for  faithful 
service,  is  able  to  wear  his  laurels  with  grace  and  credit  to 
himself. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  younger  of  the 
second  generation  of  yellow  pine  lumbermen  of  the  South. 
He  is  entitled  to  be  called  a  thorough  lumberman,  for  experi- 
ence has  taught  him  the  business  in  its  different  phases  and  he 
has  a  wide  diversity  of  interests  for  a  man  who  has  not  yet 
reached  the  thirty-second  milepost  of  his  career.  He  was  des- 
tined to  be  a  leader,  rather  than  a  plodder. 

When  Arthur  Clark  Ramsey  was  selected  to  fill  the  highest 
position  within  the  gift  of  the  order  of  Hoo-Hoo — snark  of 
the  universe — at  the  annual  concatenation  held  at  Oklahoma 
City,  Oklahoma,  September  lo,  1906,  he  reaped  the  returns 
of  his  tireless  work  on  behalf  of  the  order,  receiving  an  honor 
that  has  been  conferred  upon  but  fourteen  men  before  him, 
and  one  that  represents  the  hearty  good-will  of  the  13,000 
Hoo-Hoo  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  days  before  the  Civil  War  Arthur  Clark  Ramsey, 
the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Ramsey,  was  a  Methodist  minister  and 
a  plantation  owner  in  Alabama.  His  son,  William  King  Ram- 
sey, brought  up  in  the  South  and  bred  to  southern  principles, 
was  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  serving  four  years 

125 


126  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

under  General  Gordon  and  General  Jackson.  After  the  war  he 
settled  in  Camden,  Arkansas,  where,  three  or  four  years  later, 
he  married  Mary  Vickers.  To  them,  on  December  ii,  1874, 
was  born  a  son,  Arthur  Clark  Ramsey.  When  old  enough 
the  boy  entered  the  public  schools  of  Camden,  continuing  his 
studies  there  during  his  youth.  He  was  industrious  in  his 
school  work,  and  carried  his  industry  outside  of  school.  Not 
content  to  be  unemployed  during  the  long  summer  vacations 
at  an  early  age  he  sought  employment  for  his  spare  time. 
During  successive  summers  he  worked  as  a  clerk,  timekeeper 
for  a  contractor  and  rodman  for  a  civil  engineer,  holding  these 
positions  only  two  or  three  months  until  time  to  return  to  his 
studies,  and  accepting  whatever  wages  he  could  get.  At  the 
end  of  his  junior  year  in  the  Camden  high  school  he  took  a 
place  as  clerk  in  the  post  office  at  Camden,  remaining  there  a 
year.  He  found,  however,  that  he  needed  a  broader  general 
education  to  equip  him  for  his  life  work,  and  with  this  end  in 
view  he  spent  a  year  at  Hendrix  College,  at  Conway,  Arkansas, 
going  to  Searcy,  Arkansas,  the  following  year,  where  he  took 
a  business  course  at  Searcy  College. 

By  making  the  best  of  these  opportunities  Mr.  Ramsey 
found  that  he  was  well  equipped  for  his  entry  into  the  business 
world.  His  first  connection  with  the  lumber  business  came 
about  through  his  employment  with  the  Camden  Lumber 
Company,  of  Camden,  Arkansas,  as  stenographer,  July  5, 
1891.  This  concern  had  several  sawmills  at  various  points 
between  Camden  and  Eldorado,  Arkansas,  and  a  planing  mill 
at  Camden ;  but  a  short  time  after  he  entered  its  service  the 
plants  were  moved  and  the  business  was  concentrated  at 
Elliott,  Arkansas.  Steady  promotion  was  the  reward  of  Mr. 
Ramsey's  diligence,  and  he  filled  successively  the  positions  of 
stenographer,  shipping  clerk,  traveling  salesman  and  manager 
of  the  sales  department.  The  last  named  position  he  held 
until  1896,  when  he  severed  his  connection  with  the  Camden 
Lumber  Company,  and,  with  H.  C.  McDaniel,  formed  the 
McDaniel-Ramsey  Lumber  Company,  establishing  headquar- 


ARTHUR  C.  RAMSEY  127 

ters  at  Eldorado,  Arkansas.  The  original  plan  of  the  pro- 
motors  of  this  concern  was  to  do  a  strictly  wholesale  business, 
specializing  in  implement  stock  and  the  factory  trade.  Within 
a  short  time,  however,  a  mill  to  which  the  new  company  had 
made  heavy  advances  found  itself  unable  to  pay,  owing  to  the 
prevailing  low  prices  and  adverse  market  conditions,  and  it 
was  taken  over  by  the  McDaniel-Ramsey  concern,  which  now 
found  itself  with  a  fully  equipped  manufacturing  plant.  Mr. 
Ramsey  was  not  sanguine  of  the  success  of  this  venture  and 
gladly  accepted  Mr.  McDaniel's  offer  to  buy  his  interest  in 
the  business. 

Desiring  to  get  into  a  broader  field,  Mr.  Ramsey  moved  to 
St.  Louis,  where  he  became  sales  manager  of  the  South 
Arkansas  Lumber  Company.  Unvarying  success  met  his 
efforts  in  this  direction,  but  he  was  anxious  to  get  into  a  busi- 
ness where  he  could  hold  an  interest  and  in  1900  he  purchased 
a  block  of  stock  in  the  George  W.  Miles  Timber  &  Lumber 
Company,  of  St.  Louis,  and  was  elected  vice  president  and 
manager  of  the  sales  department.  He  opened  the  company's 
sales  office  at  St.  Louis,  and  has  held  this  position  ever  since. 

While  Mr.  Ramsey  concentrates  his  time  and  attention 
upon  the  business  of  the  George  W.  Miles  Timber  &  Lumber 
Company,  he  has  extensive  outside  lumber  interests.  He  is 
president  of  the  Arcadia  Lumber  Company,  Limited,  of 
Arcadia,  Louisiana,  which  operates  a  mill  cutting  about  50,000 
feet  a  day.  He  is  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Iron  Moun- 
tain Lumber  Company,  of  Elliott,  Arkansas,  which  is  building 
a  planing  mill  at  that  point  and  will  handle  the  product  of 
several  neighboring  sawmills,  turning  out  from  40,000  to 
50,000  feet  a  day.  In  these  enterprises  he  is  associated  with 
W.  W.  Brown,  J.  C.  Ritchie  and  John  T.  Burkett. 

In  connection  with  C.  C.  Henderson,  W.  K.  Ramsey, 
W.  W.  Brown  and  Charles  Dodson,  Mr.  Ramsey  recently  in- 
corporated the  Nashville  Lumber  Company,  which  will  erect 
saw  and  planing  mills  at  Nashville,  Arkansas.  This  will  be  a 
modern   plant,  its  equipment  to  consist  of   two   single   band 


128  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

saws  and  a  gang  edger  with  a  capacity  of  80,000  feet  a  day, 
complete  planing  mill,  brick  dry  kilns,  etc.  A  very  high 
grade  of  shortleaf  yellow  pine  and  white  oak  timber,  of  which 
the  company  now  (September,  1906)  owns  about  250,000,000 
feet,  will  keep  this  mill  supplied  for  many  years.  To  facilitate 
the  logging  operations  a  railroad  has  been  incorporated  under 
the  name  of  the  Memphis,  Paris  &  Gulf  Railway,  and  active 
work  on  the  roadbed  has  begun.  The  road  will  be  constructed 
from  Nashville,  on  the  St.  Louis,  Iron  Mountain  &  Southern 
Railway,  to  Ashdown,  where  it  will  connect  with  the  Kansas 
City  Southern  and  the  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  roads. 

While  Mr.  Ramsey's  business  career  has  been  a  brilliant 
one,  his  home  life  has  been  most  happy.  He  married  Miss 
Verna  Sanderson,  at  Carrollton,  Illinois,  March  10,  1897.  One 
son  has  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ramsey — William  Francis 
Ramsey,  now  eight  years  of  age. 

In  the  field  of  politics  Mr.  Ramsey  is  not  particularly  active, 
but  votes  the  Democratic  national  ticket.  He  is  much  inter- 
ested in  lodge  work  and  is  a  member  of  Pythagoras  Lodge, 
No.  89,  Knights  of  Pythias,  of  Eldorado,  and  of  Rose  Hill 
Lodge,  No.  550,  Ancient  Free  &  Accepted  Masons,  of  St. 
Louis.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Concate- 
nated Order  of  Hoo-Hoo,  having  been  initiated  at  Camden  in 
January,  1893.  ^^  g^^s  by  the  number  233,  which  testifies  to 
the  antiquity  of  his  membership.  As  steps  to  the  high  posi- 
tion which  he  now  occupies,  he  was  vicegerent  of  Missouri  in 
1902-3,  was  elected  junior  Hoo-Hoo  in  1904  and  senior  Hoo- 
Hoo  in  1905.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Club,  of  St. 
Louis. 


/ 


purpose  has  been 
I  by  some  great  obstacle,  or  when  some  «^  ■ 

\t\'  has  wrecked  his  plans,  it  is  then  that  the  prit  and  resource 

man  assert  them.  .   -..  can  accept 

...^ tary  defeat  and  take  renewed  encourj^^-.-.jnt  from  his 

store  of  mental  and  moral  energy,  he  is  doomed  to  fall  back 
into  the  rank  and  file  and  to  lead  no  more.  Charles  Henry 
Bradley,  of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  has  shown  the  qualities  of 
determination  and  integrity  under  all  circumstances,  and  has 
accomplished  much  in  his  particular  line. 

He  '  1^  ^  t'     t-.y  on  the  docks  of  Bay  City, 

M'  '  or  assistance  than  his  own 

ears  from  the  time  he 

ess  for  himself  on  a 

)  had  been  in  b  ss 

the 

V, 


y 

ar  4, 

■■)art?  was 

en, He  was  an 

V3_jaA«a     VJ=>»/)3H     83_lf=«AMO 


ijfe  IV 


CHARLES  HENRV  BRADLEY 


Charles   H.  Bradley 


A  forceful  character  and  unwavering  integrity  Is  a  com- 
bination of  powerful  attributes  that  has  brought  honor  and  a 
fair  store  of  this  world's  goods  to  the  man  who  has  been  so 
fortunately  equipped.  When  his  purpose  has  been  thwarted 
for  the  moment  by  some  great  obstacle,  or  when  some  calam- 
ity has  wrecked  his  plans,  it  is  then  that  the  grit  and  resource- 
fulness of  the  man  assert  themselves.  Unless  he  can  accept 
momentary  defeat  and  take  renewed  encouragement  from  his 
store  of  mental  and  moral  energy,  he  is  doomed  to  fall  back 
into  the  rank  and  file  and  to  lead  no  more.  Charles  Henry 
Bradley,  of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  has  shown  the  qualities  of 
determination  and  integrity  under  all  circumstances,  and  has 
accomplished  much  in  his  particular  Hne. 

He  began  life  as  a  tally  boy  on  the  docks  of  Bay  City, 
Michigan,  with  no  other  backing  or  assistance  than  his  own 
forceful  characteristics.  Within  five  years  from  the  time  he 
started  to  work  he  was  engaged  in  business  for  himself  on  a 
scale  that  gave  him  rank  with  men  who  had  been  in  business 
many  years;  and  before  he  left  Bay  City  he  had  become  the 
largest  individual  shipper  of  white  pine  to  the  East.  Today, 
while  still  engaged  in  the  shipping  business,  he  is  considered 
a  reliable  timber  expert,  and  is  extensively  engaged  in  the  sale 
of  timber  lands.  His  long  residence  and  experience  in  Bay 
City  and  his  knowledge  of  the  timber  lands  of  Michigan,  Wis- 
consin and  Minnesota  have  particularly  fitted  him  for  the 
handling  of  large  propositions  such  as  he  has  been  identified 
with  in  recent  years. 

Charles  H.  Bradley  is  the  second  son  of  Henry  M.  Bradley 
and  Mary  E.  (Cook)  Bradley,  and  was  born  November  4, 
1853,  ^^  Sparta,  Morrow  County,  Ohio,  where  his  father  was 
engaged  in  the  woolen  manufacturing  business.     He  was  an 

129 


I30  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

infant  in  arms  when  the  family  moved  to  Bay  City,  Michigan, 
in  June,  1855.  It  was  in  this  thriving  lumbering  town  that 
Charles  was  brought  up  and  that  he  gleaned  his  first  knowledge 
of  the  lumber  industry  and  became  imbued  with  the  idea  of 
making  it  the  means  of  his  liveHhood.  He  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Bay  City  and  completed  a  course  in  the  high  school, 
but  many  of  his  play  hours  were  put  in  about  the  sawmill  of 
H.  M.  Bradley  &  Co.,  which  business  his  father  founded. 

Young  Bradley  was  seventeen  years  old  when  he  finished 
his  schooling  and  started  to  work.  Instead  of  entering  the 
sawmill  of  his  father,  as  might  have  been  expected,  he  secured 
a  job  as  tally  boy  for  G.  K.  Jackson,  a  prominent  shipper  of 
that  period.  He  tallied  for  this  employer  during  the  years 
1870  and  1871  and  put  in  the  following  year  with  another 
shipper.  He  was  an  observant  lad  and  quick  to  learn,  and  in 
the  three  years  he  thus  spent  he  became  qualified  to  act  as  an 
inspector,  having  acquired  unusual  expertness  in  the  grading 
of  lumber. 

He  had  nursed  an  ambition  to  engage  in  business  for  him- 
self from  the  first  day  he  went  on  the  docks  for  G.  K.  Jackson. 
This  ambition  was  realized  in  1873  when  he  began  business 
under  his  own  name  as  an  inspector  and  shipper  of  lumber  at 
Bay  City.  The  term  "shipper"  is  still  applied  to  those  engaged 
on  the  Lakes  who  buy  and  inspect  lumber  for  shipment  to  par- 
ties in  the  East.  The  year  he  started  in  business  he  was  offered 
what  appeared  to  be  an  attractive  salary  to  enter  the  employ  of 
another  concern.  But  he  declined  the  ofTer  in  the  belief  that 
he  could  make  more  money  as  a  shipper  himself,  and  this 
belief  was  justified  when,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  he  found 
that  his  business  had  returned  him  twice  the  amount  of  money 
he  would  have  earned  at  the  salary  offered  him. 

Each  passing  year  saw  an  increase  in  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness done  by  Mr.  Bradley,  coincident  with  the  growing  de- 
mand for  lumber  and  the  decline  of  Bay  City  as  a  point  of 
production.  Mr.  Bradley,  in  1882,  started  a  branch  of  his 
business  at  Oscoda  and  Au  Sable,  Michigan,  which  was  placed 


CHARLES  H.  BRADLEY  131 

in  charge  of  W.  A.  Rose.  The  latter  was  admitted  as  a  part- 
ner, the  firm  being  known  as  C.  H.  Bradley  &  Co.  The  trend 
of  the  shipping  business  of  the  firm  necessitated  the  opening 
of  still  another  branch,  at  Menominee,  Michigan,  in  1885. 
This  office  was  put  in  charge  of  John  S.  Coman,  who  also  was 
given  an  interest  in  the  firm  of  C.  H.  Bradley  &  Co.  Mr. 
Bradley  was  the  first  to  go  into  the  Green  Bay  district  for  the 
shipment  of  lumber  to  the  East. 

At  that  time  the  timber  lands  of  the  northern  and  western 
sections  of  Wisconsin  were  being  developed,  while  the  Lake 
Huron  shore  of  Michigan  was  being  rapidly  cut  out.  There- 
fore, the  Au  Sable  business  was  closed  in  1891,  and  Mr.  Rose 
went  to  Ashland,  Wisconsin,  and  P.  M.  Shaw,  Junior,  who 
had  later  become  associated  with  Mr.  Bradley,  was  transferred 
to  Duluth.  The  Menominee  branch  of  the  business  ended  in 
1889.  The  partnership  existing  between  Mr.  Bradley  and 
Mr.  Coman  was  dissolved  January  i,  1890,  and  since  1893, 
when  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Rose  and  Mr.  Shaw  was  ter- 
minated, Mr.  Bradley  has  continued  the  business  of  C.  H. 
Bradley  &  Co.  alone. 

During  the  period  from  1886  to  1889,  inclusive,  the  firm 
averaged  more  than  125,000,000  feet  of  lumber  a  year  in  ship- 
ments, this  being  the  largest  business  done  by  any  one  shipperof 
that  period.  The  greatest  volume  of  shipments  made  by  C.  H. 
Bradley  &  Co.  in  anyone  year  was  in  1889,  when  they  aggre- 
gated 160,000,000  feet. 

The  large  business  done  by  Mr.  Bradley  led  to  his  becom- 
ing interested  in  lumber  vessels  or  tonnage,  and  he  became  a 
part  owner  in  several  vessels.  One  of  these  tonnage  interests 
is  in  the  steamer  C.  II.  Bradley^  named  after  the  shipper,  which 
vessel  has  a  carrying  capacity  of  900,000  feet.  He  never  be- 
came financially  interested  in  sawmills,  although  he  has 
carried  on  many  heavy  transactions  in  timber,  logs  and  lumber. 

In  1894  Mr.  Bradley  shifted  the  scene  of  his  active  opera- 
tions and  his  residence  from  Bay  City  to  Duluth.  Of  recent 
years  he  has  devoted  himself  somewhat  to  the  buying  and  sell- 


132  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ing  of  timber  lands,  and  is  now  giving  his  entire  attention  to 
timber  investments. 

During  the  financial  panic  of  1893  Mr.  Bradley  had  a  bitter 
experience.  Like  many  other  men  of  extended  business  inter- 
ests, he  v^as  unable  to  meet  his  obligations  promptly,  but 
suffice  it  to  say  that  the  good  faith  and  grit  and  determination 
of  the  man  were  proved  when  he  paid  every  one  of  his  creditors 

in  full. 

Mr.  Bradley  married  Miss  Maggie  G.  Ten  Eyck,  a  mem- 
ber'of  the  old  and  prominent  Ten  Eyck  family,  of  Albany,  New 
York,  December  i,  1875.  Five  children  have  been  born  to 
them— one  daughter  and  four  sons.  The  daughter,  Mary 
Ten  Eyck,  is  now  the  wife  of  Frank  R.  Leslie,  manager  of  the 
Zenith  Paper  Company,  of  Duluth.  Leonard  G.  Bradley,  the 
eldest  son,  is  a  graduate  of  Lafayette  College,  of  Easton,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  is  engaged  in  developing  mining  interests  for 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation.  Wilson,  another  son,  is 
taking  a  course  of  civil  engineering  at  Princeton  University. 
The  third  son,  Charles  H.  Bradley,  Junior,  is  preparing  to  enter 
college.  The  fourth  son,  Harry  G.,  died  September  4,  1892, 
at  about  two  and  a  half  years  of  age. 

Mr.  Bradley  never  took  an  active  interest  in  politics,  though 
he  was  urged  during  his  long  residence  in  Bay  City  to  become 
a  candidate  for  public  office.  He  is  a  member  of  several 
fraternal  organizations,  and  of  the  Commercial  Club,  of 
Duluth.  He  numbers  among  his  business  associates  and 
friends  some  of  the  largest  white  pine  handlers  of  the  East, 
with  many  of  whom  he  has  carried  on  for  many  years  transac- 
tions involving  immense  sums  of  money.  His  later  operations 
in  timber  lands  in  many  instances  have  been  with  these  former 
associates,  and  several  large  deals  have  been  satisfactorily  con- 
summated. 


Th 


In  thr  e' 


'Hist  ^ 

in  the  mifr 

^frha^.  

.^ssors.         .  ...^  >    anger 

.^pneration  \ -^  ..^^;i    marked   is   Thomas   P. 

»..c..iley,  of  Duluth,  xt^...  ..    .. .,  a  stalwart  son  of  a  family  long 

identified  with  the  lumber  business. 

Ability  in  the  lumber  business  came  by  heredity  to  Mr. 
Bradley,  although  the  school  in  which  he  was  educated  had 
much  to  do  with  the  signal  success  which  he  has  gained.  His 
grandfather,  H.  M.  Bradley,  went  to  Duluth  in  the  early  '8o's 
from  Bay  City,  Michigan,  where  he  had  been  a  pioneer  lum- 
b'  ),  associated  more  or  less    ntmately  with  many  of  the 

It  men  of  the  vail  ^'  '  nberof  the  family 

I  was  but  natural,  there- 
when  they  arrived 

ird  L.  Br 
ai  e  of  four  c 

and 
T 

c 


p 

whic 

States 


V3_iaAFlQ     3JOI/1IS=1<R     8AMOHT 


*^i&$¥ 


THOMAS   pringle:   bradl_e:y 


Thomas    P.  Bradley 


In  the  great  northern  pine  country,  as  the  pioneers  of  the 
lumber  industry  in  that  section  are  one  by  one  giving  up  their 
control  of  afTairs,  the  young  man  is  coming  to  the  fore.  He  is 
found  in  the  office,  in  the  woods,  in  the  mill,  conducting  en- 
terprises of  great  magnitude  with,  perhaps,  more  vigor  and 
with  fully  as  much  success  as  his  predecessors.  Of  the  younger 
generation  whose  success  has  been  marked  is  Thomas  P. 
Bradley,  of  Duluth,  Minnesota,  a  stalwart  son  of  a  family  long 
identified  with  the  lumber  business. 

AbiHty  in  the  lumber  business  came  by  heredity  to  Mr. 
Bradley,  although  the  school  in  which  he  was  educated  had 
much  to  do  with  the  signal  success  which  he  has  gained.  His 
grandfather,  H.  M.  Bradley,  went  to  Duluth  in  the  early  '8o's 
from  Bay  City,  Michigan,  where  he  had  been  a  pioneer  lum- 
berman, associated  more  or  less  intimately  with  many  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  valley.  This  senior  member  of  the  family 
and  all  his  sons  were  lumbermen,  and  it  was  but  natural,  there- 
fore, that  they  should  engage  in  lumbering  when  they  arrived 
at  the  head  of  the  Lakes. 

Thomas  Pringle  Bradley  is  the  son  of  Edward  L.  Bradley 
and  Lucretia  A.  (Pringle)  Bradley.  He  is  one  of  four  children 
and  the  eldest  of  three  sons,  having  been  born  May  13,  1881. 
Though  he  was  born  in  the  Wolverine  State,  practically  his 
entire  life  has  been  spent  in  Minnesota.  Even  as  a  youngster 
the  buzz  of  the  saw  in  the  mills  was  music  to  his  ears,  and  he 
had  a  smattering  knowledge  of  lumber,  gained  from  the  con- 
versation of  his  father  and  other  relatives,  even  during  his 
school  days.  His  attention  to  his  studies  in  the  public  schools 
prepared  him  for  entrance  into  the  Duluth  high  school, 
which  is  considered  one  of  the  best  of  its  class  in  the  United 
States  and  has  a  high  standard  of  scholarship  and  mental  disci- 

133 


134  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

pline.  He  graduated  from  the  high  school  in  1896,  which  year 
marks  his  connection  with  the  lumber  industry.  In  the  ten 
years  that  he  has  been  an  active  worker  he  has  made  great 
strides  as  a  successful  business  man. 

Young  Bradley  was  hardly  out  of  school  before  he  sought 
a  position  whereby  he  could  learn  the  rudiments  of  the  lumber 
business.  He  began  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder — tallying 
lumber  on  the  docks  for  the  various  commission  firms  en- 
gaged in  water  shipping.  He  was  eager  to  learn  everything 
there  was  to  be  learned  about  lumber,  and  in  less  than  a  year 
he  was  looked  upon  as  among  the  most  capable  inspectors 
in  the  employ  of  these  firms.  Later  on  he  went  upon  the 
docks,  shipping  for  the  well-known  firm  of  A.  E.Wilson  & 
Co.  But  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  commercial  education 
he  thus  far  had  secured,  and,  for  the  purpose  of  knowing  the 
manner  in  which  woods  work  was  carried  on,  he  spent  one 
winter  scaling  in  the  woods  and  another  year  in  studying  the 
office  system  of  a  big  concern.  He  had  the  opportunity  of 
doing  these  things  in  the  mill  of  his  father  or  his  uncles,  but 
he  chose  to  prove  his  mettle  and  to  accept  the  hard  knocks  in 
the  employ  of  those  outside  the  family  circle. 

It  was  in  1901  that  Mr.  Bradley  became  identified  with  the 
DuluthLog  Company,  with  which  concern  he  has  made  rapid 
progress  in  the  business  world  and  where  his  interests  are 
almost  wholly  centered.  The  company  was  incorporated 
October  i,  1901,  by  Mr.  Bradley's  father,  E.  L.  Bradley. 
While  the  concern  was  established  to  carry  on  a  general  busi- 
ness in  forest  products,  more  especially  in  cedar  and  spruce, 
much  of  its  trade  during  the  last  five  years  has  been  in  pulp- 
wood.  It  was  the  first  pulpwood  shipper  from  Minnesota, 
and  is  the  largest  pulpwood  producer  in  the  Northwest. 
Mr.  Bradley  first  held  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  company, 
having  a  one-fourth  interest  in  the  business.  In  1902  he  was 
given  additional  responsibility,  and  two  years  later  he  became 
general  manager,  also.  He  now  owns  three-tenths  of  the  en- 
tire stock  of  the  corporation. 


THOMAS  P.  BRADLEY  135 

He  has  all  the  best  characteristics  of  the  young  man  of 
business — activity,  versatility,  carefulness  of  statement,  hon- 
esty, punctiliousness  in  carrying  out  contracts,  and,  in  addition, 
he  is  optimistic  and  progressive.  In  these  days  of  young  men 
he  has  demonstrated  the  success  with  which  they  can  carry  on, 
unaided  by  older  heads,  business  of  whatever  magnitude. 

The  Duluth  Log  Company,  of  whose  operations  Mr.  Brad- 
ley has  charge,  is  a  manufacturer  and  wholesaler  of  logs, 
lumber,  lath,  shingles,  ties,  poles,  posts,  piling  and  pulpwood. 
Each  season  the  company  sends  into  the  woods  more  than 
three-score  contractors  to  carry  on  the  logging  for  the  company 
in  both  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  and  about  2,000  men  are 
given  employment.  The  concern  has  two  yards  at  Duluth ; 
a  sawmill  and  yards  at  Aitkin,  Aitkin  County,  Minnesota,  on 
the  Mississippi  River;  a  mill,  yards  and  general  store  at  Haw- 
thorne, Douglas  County,  Wisconsin,  and  several  more  large 
concentrating  yards  scattered  throughout  the  Northwest.  It 
enjoys  excellent  shipping  facilities  for  its  immense  output. 

From  the  start  of  his  business  career  Mr.  Bradley  has  had 
many  propositions  laid  before  him  for  settlement  which  would 
have  puzzled  an  older  man  or  one  of  wider  experience.  He 
has  adhered  closely  to  the  policy  adopted  at  the  outset — not  to 
follow  any  one  branch  of  the  timber  business  exclusively.  It 
has  been  the  custom  of  the  company  to  contract  for  the  entire 
growth  on  a  certain  piece  of  property,  taking  whatever  it 
might  contain  in  the  way  of  merchantable  timber  and  finding 
an  outlet  for  the  product.  In  some  instances  it  has  been 
necessary  for  Mr.  Bradley  to  create  channels  through  which 
stocks  secured  in  this  manner  could  be  moved  readily. 

The  method  of  contracting  for  timber  in  general  has  added 
to  the  intricacy  of  the  business.  For  instance,  in  the  tie  and 
pulpwood  trade  buyers  are  comparatively  few  and  the  company 
goes  into  the  woods  with  a  distinct  understanding  of  what  is 
wanted  for  the  winter  and  how  much  will  be  taken  by  its  cus- 
tomers, most  of  whom,  indeed,  have  already  made  contracts 
for  certain   specific  quantities  of  material,   or  for  quantities 


136  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

within  certain  limits.  With  cedar  the  case  is  different.  In 
that  line  the  product,  outside  of  a  small  proportion  of  long 
poles,  must  be  sold  in  car  lots  throughout  the  Northwest,  at 
delivered  prices,  and  the  details  of  freight  with  the  necessary 
correspondence  and  the  traffic  knowledge  required  for  the 
successful  conduct  of  this  branch  have  been  intricate. 

The  headquarters  of  the  Duluth  Log  Company  are  in  the 
Palladio  Building,  Duluth.  Branch  offices  are  located  at  sev- 
eral other  points  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  where  the 
company  has  yards  or  mills.  Each  one  of  these  branches  is  in 
charge  of  a  competent  man,  but  general  supervision  of  them 
all  is  maintained  by  Mr.  Bradley.  The  volume  and  character 
of  the  business  require  close  application,  so  that  the  young 
secretary  and  general  manager  has  but  little  leisure  time. 

Another  interest  of  Mr.  Bradley's  is  the  Duluth  Cedar  Com- 
pany, a  concern  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Minnesota  to 
deal  in  cedar  products.  E.  L.  Bradley  is  president  and  treas- 
urer of  the  company;  S.  C.  Brown,  vice  president,  and  T.  P. 
Bradley,  secretary  and  general  manager.  The  company  has  a 
branch  office  and  yards  at  Ripple,  Itasca  County,  Minnesota, 
on  the  Minnesota  &  International  Railway. 

What  time  Mr.  Bradley  can  spare  from  his  work  is  spent 
in  hunting  and  fishing.  This  is  his  favorite  recreation,  al- 
though he  does  not  get  the  opportunity  to  indulge  in  this  form 
of  sport  to  the  extent  jhat  he  craves.  He  has  a  membership  in 
several  yacht  clubs  of  the  Zenith  City,  besides  in  a  curling  club 
and  other  social  organizations.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mercial Club,  of  Duluth.  Mr.  Bradley  has  never  paid  much 
attention  to  politics  because  of  the  pressure  of  business  affairs. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Methodist  Church,  of  Duluth, 
and  is  an  enthusiastic  Mason,  being  a  prominent  and  active 
member  of  Duluth  Commandery,  Knights  Templar. 

Mr.  Bradley  forsook  batchelordom  August  lo,  1904,  when 
he  married  Miss  Emma  Black,  a  daughter  of  John  T.  Black,  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Duluth.  The  couple  moves  in  the 
younger  set  of  society  in  the  Zenith  City. 


^"^-^J 


J.  Carpen 


.he  mr^ 
Ludinou 

whirh  arknr 


"ial  life  means  no  hnrHshin 


-e<;  o' 


,ai\^u.   ill    tw 


)  the  growth  of  this  type,  and  examples  are  reve« 
I  v^.^onnel   of   the  lumber   trade.     ^^      -ne  J.   C—^-nter,  of 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  is  one  of  mc  men  whuic  u 
of  character  and  life  is  in  proportion  to  fiis  extensive  inauiinai 
interests. 

Mr.  Carpenter   comes  of  a  family  long  and   pr  tly 

identified  with  the  lumber  industry  of  the  North  anti  w  est. 
His  father,  Judson  E.  Ca-         -^r,  is  a  sturdy  figure  in  t" 

,  he  3  with  zest  tti  the 

he  ^i  a   0 

and 
•  terminus  of  the  < 

ming.    He  later 


ness,  and,  despite  his 


Iowa,  wht 

or^e  M.  and  Charles  F.  Curtis, 

the  '  of 


Alic4WI     AX.    \.»  M  %*  \.  i  i   i    L^      KIJ 


^  .Luools, 
where  he 


J=I3TM3R$=»  AO     HR330L     3M30U 


EUGENE:    JOSEPH     CARPENTER 


Eugene   J.  Carpenter 


A  type  of  the  modern  business  man  to  whom  application  to 
the  multitudinous  affairs  of  commercial  life  means  no  hardship 
and  which  acknowledges  obligations  to  society,  is  usurping  the 
place  of  the  type  that  knows  and  cares  for  little  of  the  world 
outside  of  the  requirements  of  its  own  business.  The  ramifi- 
cations and  diversity  of  trade  conditions  has  had  much  to  do 
with  the  growth  of  this  type,  and  examples  are  revealed  in  the 
personnel  of  the  lumber  trade.  Eugene  J.  Carpenter,  of 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  is  one  of  the  men  whose  broadness 
of  character  and  life  is  in  proportion  to  his  extensive  industrial 
interests. 

Mr.  Carpenter  comes  of  a  family  long  and  prominently 
identified  with  the  lumber  industry  of  the  North  and  West. 
His  father,  Judson  E.  Carpenter,  is  a  sturdy  figure  in  the  busi- 
ness, and,  despite  his  years,  he  participates  with  zest  in  the 
affairs  of  the  concern  which  he  heads.  He  is  a  native  of 
Chenango  County,  New  York,  and  went  West  in  1855,  settling 
in  Ogle  County,  Illinois,  then  the  terminus  of  the  Chicago  & 
North-Western  Railway,  where  he  took  up  farming.  He  later 
married  Olivia  Detwiler,  a  native  of  Hagerstown,  Maryland, 
and  to  them  was  born,  August  28,  1865,  at  Rochelle,  Illinois, 
a  son  —  Eugene  Joseph  Carpenter.  Three  years  later  the 
family  moved  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  where  the  father  engaged  in 
business  with  his  nephews,  George  M.  and  Charles  F.  Curtis, 
in  the  manufacture  of  doors  and  millwork,  under  the  name  of 
Curtis  Bros.  &  Co. 

Eugene  J.  Carpenter  spent  his  early  life  in  Clinton,  in  close 
association  with  the  sash  and  door  factory  and  the  lumber  busi- 
ness, which  from  the  first  was  his  choice  of  a  career.  He  ob- 
tained his  educational  training  in  the  Clinton  public  schools, 
matriculating  in  1884  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  where  he 

137 


138  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

spent  three  years.  Leaving  college  in  1887,  he  entered  the 
office  of  Curtis  Bros.  &  Co.  as  a  clerk  and  for  five  years  he  re- 
mained with  the  company.  He  learned  the  business  thoroughly 
before  going  out  on  the  road  as  a  salesman,  and  as  he  showed 
his  capabilities  he  won  further  advancement. 

Going  to  Minneapolis  in  the  spring  of  1892,  Mr.  Carpenter 
succeeded  his  elder  brother,  Elbert  L.  Carpenter,  who  became 
associated  with  Thomas  H.  Shevlin  in  the  organization  of  the 
Shevlin-Carpenter  Company,  in  the  management  of  the  sash 
and  door  jobbing  and  lumber  business  of  Carpenter  Bros.  & 
Co.,  which  had  been  established  in  1881.  This  was  his  intro- 
duction to  the  trade  of  Minneapolis  and  the  North  and  his  first 
experience  as  an  independent  manager  of  an  enterprise.  He 
did  not  remain  long  in  the  sash  and  door  business,  however, 
as  a  few  months  after  taking  charge  of  Carpenter  Bros.  &  Co. 
he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Carpenter-Lamb  Com- 
pany. The  jobbing  business  was  disposed  of  to  the  Curtis  & 
Yale  Company. 

Upon  the  formation  of  the  Carpenter-Lamb  Company,  J. 
E.  Carpenter  became  president  and  E.J.  Carpenter  treasurer 
and  manager  of  the  concern.  A  mill,  with  a  capacity  of 
45,000,000  feet  a  year,  was  built  on  the  east  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River  at  Minneapolis.  Mr.  Carpenter  bought  large 
tracts  of  timber  lands  in  northern  Minnesota,  principally  on 
the  Prairie  River,  the  work  of  logging  being  let  to  contractors. 
The  year  following  the  inauguration  of  the  company  came  the 
great  financial  and  commercial  depression,  when  the  lumber 
market  was  demoralized  and  the  product  of  the  mills  was  sold 
at  almost  any  price  that  could  be  obtained.  In  this  crisis  the 
Carpenter-Lamb  Company  stood  as  one  of  the  firmest.  Mr. 
Carpenter  displayed  then  the  qualities  which  distinguish  him 
in  business  circles  today.  He  was  undismayed  by  the  situation, 
and  by  cool  judgment  and  tact  he  not  only  kept  the  credit  of 
the  company  unimpaired,  but  assisted  others  in  their  troubles. 

For  more  than  thirteen  years  the  mill  of  the  company  has 
been  operated  steadily  and  it  has  an  excellent  reputation  for  the 


EUGENE  J.  CARPENTER  139 

quality  of  its  product  and  has  been  a  successful  enterprise 
in  every  way.  The  Carpenter-Lamb  Company  is  rapidly  ex- 
hausting its  Minnesota  timber  holdings,  though  the  timber 
owned  tributary  to  the  upper  Mississippi  River  will  suffice  to 
supply  the  mill  and  keep  it  running  four  or  five  years.  Some 
timber  north  of  the  divide,  tributary  to  the  Rainy  River,  has 
been  sold  to  other  operators.  Throughout  the  Northwest  the 
company  has  an  enviable  reputation  for  high  business  prin- 
ciples, and  it  is  well  and  favorably  known  by  retailers  and  con- 
sumers. The  company  maintains  a  suite  of  offices  in  the 
Security  Bank  Building.  Mr.  Carpenter  is  treasurer  of  the 
company;  J.  E.  Carpenter,  president;  C.  R.  Lamb,  vice 
president,  and  Irving  R.  Goodridge,  secretary. 

In  addition  to  his  interest  in  the  Carpenter-Lamb  Company, 
Mr.  Carpenter  is  identified  with  other  lumber  enterprises. 
His  abilities  lie  largely  in  the  financial  end,  and  he  has  financed 
several  companies.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Security  Bank  of 
Minnesota,  one  of  the  solid  financial  institutions  of  Minne- 
apolis. Within  the  last  few  years  he  has  been  instrumental  in 
organizing  several  large  and  growing  line  yard  companies. 
He  is  president  of  the  Central  Lumber  Company,  which 
has  a  line  of  yards  in  Iowa,  Minnesota  and  South  Dakota, 
and  is  president  of  the  Goodridge-Call  Lumber  Company, 
which  operates  yards  in  Iowa,  Minnesota,  North  Dakota, 
South  Dakota  and  eastern  Montana.  The  headquarters  of 
these  companies  are  in  Minneapolis.  Mr.  Carpenter  is  also 
president  of  the  Seeley  Lumber  Company,  of  Billings,  Mon- 
tana, which  is  engaged  in  a  jobbing  and  retail  lumber  business. 
He  is  a  director  and  member  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  McCloud  River  Lumber  Company,  of  San  Francisco  and 
McCloud,  California,  and  a  director  of  the  Western  Pacific 
Land  &  Timber  Company,  of  San  Francisco.  The  latter  com- 
pany holds  a  large  acreage  of  undeveloped  timber  land  in  the 
Pacific  Coast  states  and  British  Columbia. 

Mr.  Carpenter  married  Miss  Merrette  Lamb,  a  daughter  of 
Lafayette  Lamb,  of  Clinton,  Iowa,  April  30,  1894.     They  had 


I40  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

known  each  other  since  childhood  and  their  marriage  was  a 
happy  one.  They  have  a  little  daughter,  Olivia,  aged  eight 
years.  Their  home  on  Harmon  Place,  Minneapolis,  is  a  favor- 
ite resort  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carpenters'  large  circle  of  friends. 
Mr.  Carpenter  enjoys  the  social  side  of  life  and  his  pleasing 
personality  makes  him  a  popular  member  of  society  in  his  home 
city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Minneapolis  Club,  the  Minne- 
kahda  Club  and  its  St.  Paul  counterpart,  the  Town  and 
Country  Club,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Lafayette  Club,  of 
Minnetonka.  He  plays  a  good  game  of  golf,  and  enjoys  the 
links.  He  is  also  fond  of  driving,  preferring  a  team  of  thor- 
oughbreds to  the  whirl  of  an  automobile.  Mr.  Carpenter  by 
nature  is  a  student,  and  despite  the  time  devoted  to  business 
and  social  affairs  he  finds  leisure  to  do  much  reading. 


•M 


1859.     The  Clarke  ancestry  has  been  li  ^uiuuuil  days. 

Hobart  Clarke,  the  grandfather  of  Hovc>  \..  Clarke,  was  a 
resident  of  Andover,  Massachusetts,  a  lawyer  by  profession 
and  the  first  president  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad.  Mr. 
Clarke's  father  was  George  Thomas  Clarke  and  his  mother 
Mary  Elizabeth  (Duxbury)  Clarke.  The  senior  Mr.  Clarke 
was  a  civil  engineer  and  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  parts 

of  the   Baltimore   &  O ,e  Central,  Pere  Marquette, 

Ann  Arbor  »  east  of  tl  ppi  River. 

family  v  d  in  railroad 

V  V  C.  i  born.     He  was 

he  finished  his 


H. 

Clai  o. 

of  the  Imiilv^  < 


3>^5^AJO     33-IS^AHO     V3VOH 


HOVEIV     CHARL-ES     CLARKE 


Hovey   C.  Clarke 


As  broad  minded  as  the  broad  acres  where  his  interests 
lie,  and  as  straight  and  stalwart  as  the  white  pine  growth  of  his 
native  State,  is  Hovey  C.  Clarke,  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 
As  one  of  the  directing  geniuses  of  the  Shevlin-Carpenter 
Company,  he  has  established  a  record  that  is  widely  known. 

Hovey  Charles  Clarke  was  born  at  Flint,  Michigan,  May  7, 
1859.  The  Clarke  ancestry  has  been  traced  to  colonial  days. 
Hobart  Clarke,  the  grandfather  of  Hovey  C.  Clarke,  was  a 
resident  of  Andover,  Massachusetts,  a  lawyer  by  profession 
and  the  first  president  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad.  Mr. 
Clarke's  father  was  George  Thomas  Clarke  and  his  mother 
Mary  Elizabeth  (Duxbury)  Clarke.  The  senior  Mr.  Clarke 
was  a  civil  engineer  and  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  parts 
of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  Maine  Central,  Pere  Marquette, 
Ann  Arbor  and  other  railroads  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
It  was  while  the  head  of  the  family  was  engaged  in  railroad 
work  in  Michigan,  that  Hovey  C.  Clarke  was  born.  He  was 
sent  to  the  common  school  at  Flint  and,  later,  he  finished  his 
studies  at  the  Ann  Arbor  high  school. 

Young  Clarke,  upon  leaving  school,  entered  the  offices  of 
the  Chicago  &  West  Michigan  Railroad — now  the  Pere  Mar- 
quette— at  Muskegon,  Michigan,  in  1876.  He  began  as  a 
clerk  in  the  auditor's  office  and  as  he  showed  his  adaptability 
in  this  line  he  was  promoted  to  more  important  positions,  be- 
coming in  turn  purchasing  agent,  secretary  to  the  general 
superintendent  and  chief  clerk  to  the  freight  traffic  and  passen- 
ger agent.  When,  in  the  spring  of  1886,  the  Hall  &  Ducey 
Lumber  Company  was  organized  in  Minneapolis,  by  Thomas 
H.  Shevlin,  Patrick  A.  Ducey  and  Stephen  C.  Hall,  Mr. 
Clarke  abandoned  the  railroad  business  and  became  secretary 
of  the  lumber  organization. 

141 


142  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

In  caring  for  the  affairs  of  the  company,  which  were  in- 
trusted to  him,  Mr.  Clarke  proved  himself  to  be  possessed  of 
rare  business  judgment.  He  rapidly  acquainted  himself  with 
the  inner  knowledge  of  the  distribution  and  manufacture  of 
lumber  and  became  a  worthy  aid  to  his  more  experienced 
associates.  On  January  i,  1893,  E.  L.  Carpenter,  formerly  a 
wholesaler  in  Minneapolis,  bought  an  interest  in  the  Hall  & 
Ducey  Lumber  Company  and  it  was  consolidated  as  the  Shev- 
lin-Carpenter  Company  with  the  Hall  &  ShevHn  Lumber 
Company,  organized  in  1887  to  carry  on  a  manufacturing  busi- 
ness. Thomas  H.  Shevlin  became  president  of  the  company ; 
E.  L.  Carpenter,  secretary,  and  Mr.  Clarke,  treasurer. 

The  Shevlin-Carpenter  Company  rapidly  took  position  as 
one  of  the  leading  manufacturing  concerns  of  that  great  pri- 
mary white  pine  lumber  market — MinneapoHs.  But,  with  the 
growth  of  the  company's  business  to  large  proportions,  still 
larger  interests  were  secured  and  the  company  now  is  operat- 
ing extensively  in  timber  in  northwestern  Minnesota  in  what 
is  known  as  the  Red  River  district.  In  1895  Mr.  Clarke  and 
associates  organized  the  J.  Neils  Lumber  Company,  which 
owns  and  operates  a  sawmill  at  Sauk  Rapids,  Minnesota,  where 
about  15,000,000  feet  of  lumber  is  cut  annually.  In  1899  the 
company,  of  which  Mr.  Clarke  is  treasurer,  bought  another 
mill  at  Cass  Lake,  Minnesota,  where  a  band  and  a  band  resaw 
mill  was  built,  increasing  the  annual  output  to  40,000,000  feet. 

Another  undertaking  of  considerable  magnitude,  in  which 
Mr.  Clarke  is  interested  with  Mr.  Shevlin  and  Frank  P.  Hixon, 
was  initiated  in  1896,  when  a  large  amount  of  timber  on  the 
Red  Lake  Indian  Reservation,  tributary  to  the  Clear  Water 
River,  was  bought  and  the  St.  Hilaire  Lumber  Company  was 
organized  to  operate  this  tract.  A  sawmill,  with  a  capacity  of 
40,000,000  feet  a  year,  was  built  at  St.  Hilaire,  Minnesota.  A 
year  later  the  organizers  of  the  St.  Hilaire  Lumber  Company 
bought  the  sawmill  and  logs  of  the  Red  River  Lumber  Com- 
pany, at  Crookston,  Minnesota,  and  all  its  timber  holdings 
tributary  thereto,  and  organized  the  Crookston  Lumber  Com- 


HOVEY  C.  CLARKE  143 

pany.  The  Crookston  plant  has  a  capacity  of  40,000,000  feet 
of  lumber  a  year.  The  St.  Hilaire  plant  is  twenty-eight  miles 
northeast  of  Crookston  and  the  sales  of  both  plants  are  handled 
through  the  Crookston  office.  In  connection  with  the  manu- 
facturing plants  twelve  retail  yards  are  operated  under  the 
name  of  the  St.  Hilaire  Lumber  Company,  thus  handling  the 
lumber  from  the  tree  to  the  consumer. 

The  Crookston  Lumber  Company  and  the  St.  Hilaire 
Lumber  Company  were  subsequently  consolidated  under  the 
name  of  the  Crookston  Lumber  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Clarke 
continued  as  treasurer.  A  large  mill  was  built  at  Bemidji, 
equipped  with  two  band  saws  and  a  gang  saw,  with  an  annual 
capacity  of  70,000,000  feet.  Twelve  miles  of  logging  road  was 
built  through  the  timber,  connecting  with  the  Minnesota  & 
International  Railway  at  Hovey  Junction,  to  afford  logs  for  the 
mill  by  giving  direct  transportation  and  making  available  a 
large  body  of  timber,  up  to  that  time  difficult  of  access.  The 
company  owns  approximately  400,000,000  feet  of  stumpage. 
The  general  offices  of  the  Crookston  Lumber  Company  were 
moved  from  Crookston  to  Bemidji,  in  January,  1904. 

In  the  fall  of  1903,  with  Mr.  Shevhn  and  others,  Mr. 
Clarke  organized  the  Shevlin-Clarke  Company,  Limited,  of 
Ontario,  and  several  timber  berths,  aggregating  225,000,000 
feet  of  pine,  were  bought  in  Canada. 

Mr.  Clarke's  name  long  will  be  held  in  respect  for  the  ad- 
mirable work  he  accomplished,  under  the  infamous  Ames 
administration,  in  assisting  in  cleansing  Minneapolis  of  its 
municipal  rottenness.  Through  the  corruptnessof  some  of  the 
principal  municipal  officials  the  Scandinavian  metropolis  of  the 
United  States  was  infested  by  criminals  of  every  class,  invited 
there  by  the  officials  themselves,  who  sought  to  increase  their 
bank  accounts  by  the  graft  which  would  follow.  A  most  de- 
plorable condition  existed  when  an  ordinary  grand  jury  was 
impaneled,  in  April,  1902,  and  went  into  session  without 
special  instructions.  Mr.  Clarke  was  a  member  of  the  jury, 
and  he  was  cognizant,  in  a  way,  of  the  malfeasance  of  the  city's 


144  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

officers.  As  foreman  of  the  jury  he  proposed  to  his  fellow 
members  an  investigation,  and,  despite  their  protests,  he  won 
them  over  and  the  inquiry  began.  From  the  start  he  was  ham- 
pered in  every  way  by  those  likely  to  be  exposed  ;  he  was 
offered  bribes  to  desist,  and  even  his  life  was  threatened.  But 
Mr.  Clarke  persevered  despite  all  obstacles  set  in  his  path; 
when  he  could  not  gain  the  support  of  the  county  attorney,  he 
secured  his  assistant's  services ;  when  he  was  denied  evidence 
through  ordinary  channels,  he  hired  local  detectives  and  then 
employed  outside  sleuths  to  watch  them.  He  paid  the  bills 
himself,  the  expenses  of  the  grand  jury  for  the  summer  cost- 
ing the  county  less  than  $300.  Once  the  investigation  was 
inaugurated  the  betterelement  rallied  to  Mr.  Clarke's  standard. 
Within  eight  months  the  criminals  had  been  routed;  corrupt 
officials  sent  to  prison,  and  the  city  cleansed  and  regulated  as 
never  before.  Minneapolis  offered  Mr.  Clarke  political  reward 
in  recognition  of  his  work,  but,  characteristically,  he  declined. 

Mr.  Clarke  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Minneapolis  and  is  interested  in  several  other  financial  insti- 
tutions of  that  section  of  the  country.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Minneapolis  Club,  a  member  of  several  golf  and  country  clubs 
and  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 

Among  his  business  associates,  Mr.  Clarke  is  highly  re- 
garded for  his  sterling  qualities.  He  has  exceptional  capacity 
for  handling  business  negotiations,  but  always  deals  squarely, 
using  direct  methods  and  scorning  subterfuge.  With  subor- 
dinates he  is  always  firm  but  just,  and  generous  when  occasion 
arises.  He  possesses  a  tremendous  amount  of  energy,  which 
he  displays  in  emergencies,  and  has  a  masterful  manner  that 
overcomes  obstacles.  In  personal  relations  he  is  inclined  to  be 
reserved  with  mere  acquaintances,  but  his  friends  are  firm  ones. 

Mr.  Clarke  has  a  handsome  home  in  Minneapolis,  where 
he  resides  with  his  wife,  who  was  Miss  Maggie  L.  Rice  and 
whom  he  married,  June  28,  1886.  They  have  no  children. 
For  several  years  Mr.  Clarke  has  been  a  vestryman  of  St. 
Mark's  Episcopal  Church. 


n.     From  this 

by  unaided  ability  and  tireless  industry, 
t  up  to  its  present  p<  of  the  j 

,    A  door  manufacturing  f 
the  head,  and   also   a  large  s 
150,000  feet.     He  was  the  founder  and  is  n  . 

the  Lincoln  County  National  Bank,  and  he  was  rcspnr 
the  progress  and  success  of  the  Badger  Box  &  Lu'  ... 

pany,  a  great  industry  at  Grand  Rapids,  Wiscons,..,  .  v...Lrol 
of  which  he  secured  when  its  fortunes  were  "'^'^  ^'  '  '^'•omis- 
ing  stage,  which  he  h^*^  f.^rr^f^  into  prosperous  ^^-vacion  and 
of  ■•^"  '"     '       he  is  tiiv 

rn  near  the  ci*- 


t    W^     t^   £^ 


mi^  wn,  jenerson 

Co  ■-'  '^^e 


in  a  small  sa 

i  $100  for  his  first  year's 
i  in  this  fac 


wages 
paid  a 

In  his  I 

30MAT8     -H     -raUOUA 


AUGUST     H.    SXANQE: 


August  H.  Stange 


Poverty  and  a  small  village  in  southern  Wisconsin,  the  lat- 
ter offering  but  meager  opportunities,  were  the  condition  and 
the  site  of  his  first  efforts  at  self-support  which  confronted 
August  H.  Stange,  of  Merrill,  Wisconsin.  From  this  un- 
promising beginning,  by  unaided  ability  and  tireless  industry, 
he  has  built  up  to  its  present  position  one  of  the  largest  sash 
and  door  manufacturing  plants  in  the  world,  of  which  he  is 
the  head,  and  also  a  large  sawmill  with  a  daily  capacity  of 
150,000  feet.  He  was  the  founder  and  is  now  the  president  of 
the  Lincoln  County  National  Bank,  and  he  was  responsible  for 
the  progress  and  success  of  the  Badger  Box  &  Lumber  Com- 
pany, a  great  industry  at  Grand  Rapids,  Wisconsin,  control 
of  which  he  secured  when  its  fortunes  were  not  at  a  promis- 
ing stage,  which  he  has  forced  into  prosperous  operation  and 
of  which,  also,  he  is  the  head. 

August  H.  Stange  was  born  near  the  city  of  Stettin,  Ger- 
many, October  10,  1853.  When  he  was  only  about  a  year  old 
his  parents,  Carl  F.  Stange  and  Fredericka  (Boetcher)  Stange, 
migrated  to  America.  They  settled  at  Watertown,  Jefferson 
County,  Wisconsm,  in  1854,  and  here  Mr.  Stange  spent  the 
early  days  of  his  life.  When  he  was  only  thirteen  years  old 
he  was  forced  to  leave  school  and  help  in  the  maintenance  of 
the  family.  He  had  early  shown  an  inclination  toward  wood- 
working, and  secured  a  situation  in  a  small  sash  and  door  fac- 
tory at  Watertown,  where  he  received  $100  for  his  first  year's 
work  and  $150  for  the  second.  He  labored  in  this  factory  five 
years,  becoming  proficient  in  all  the  details  of  woodworking 
then  known  at  Watertown.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  although 
only  eighteen  years  old,  he  was  receiving  the  highest  wages 
paid  any  of  the  mechanics  in  the  factory. 

In  his  nineteenth  year  Mr.  Stange  decided  to  learn  still 

us 


146  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

more  about  the  woodworking  industry.  So,  with  only  enough 
means  to  pay  his  railroad  fare  and  a  little  besides  for  pocket 
money,  he  went  to  Racine.  There  he  secured  employment 
in  a  door  and  sash  factory,  and  in  four  years  acquired  a  valu- 
able knowledge  of  millwright  work.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
the  factory  was  burned.  It  was  rebuilt  and  Mr.  Stange's 
abilities  were  recognized  in  the  rebuilding.  The  contracts 
which  his  firm  had  on  hand  when  the  factory  was  burned  were 
given  to  H.  W.  Wright,  who  also  had  a  sash  and  door  factory 
at  Racine,  and  Mr.  Stange  was  sent  over  to  that  factory  by  his 
employers  to  look  after  the  work.  Later,  Mr.  Stange  left 
their  service  entirely  and  became  superintendent  of  Mr. 
Wright's  factory.  When  the  latter  was  appointed  postmaster 
of  Racine  he  gave  Mr.  Stange  entire  charge  of  the  business. 

H.  W.  Wright  and  Mr.  McCord  established  a  sawmill  and 
sash  and  door  factory  at  Merrill  in  1881,  of  which  Mr.  Stange 
was  given  the  superintendency.  Two  years  later  Mr.  Wright 
bought  out  Mr.  McCord  and  formed  the  H.  W.  Wright  Lum- 
ber Company,  one  of  the  constituent  parts  of  which  was  Mr. 
Stange.  With  this  corporation  he  continued  until  1886,  when 
an  opportunity  occurred  for  him  to  go  into  business  on  his 
own  account. 

With  his  advancement  in  life  Mr.  Stange  felt  increasingly 
the  necessity  for  a  continuance  of  the  education  which  had 
been  abruptly  broken  in  his  fourteenth  year — an  education 
commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the  position  in  life 
which  he  had  secured.  This  desire  he  mentioned  to  a  princi- 
pal of  one  of  the  local  schools,  who  suggested  that  he  secure 
six  other  young  men,  similarly  situated,  and  with  them  start  a 
night  school.  Mr.  Stange  secured  twelve  others,  with  whom 
he  studied  to  their  mutual  profit,  an  experience  which  he  has 
followed,  in  effect,  ever  since,  until  today  he  is  a  well  enlight- 
ened, thoroughly  posted  man  and  a  "full"  one  in  the  sense 
voiced  by  Francis  Bacon.  Naturally  of  a  sympathetic  nature, 
his  experience  with  his  fellow  students  has  directed  his  sym- 
pathies with  struggling  young  men  along  practical  lines.     He 


AUGUST  H.  STANCE  147 

takes  a  keen  pleasure  In  indicating  to  others  their  proper 
course  for  advancement — a  more  or  less  constant  but  unosten- 
tatious practice  with  him. 

In  1886  Mr.  Stange's  ability  as  a  manufacturer  began  to 
be  demonstrated  in  a  succession  of  forward  movements.  He 
first  bought  at  sherifif's  sale  a  plant  in  Merrill,  consisting  of  a 
small  sawmill  and  sash  and  door  factory.  This  was  the  nucleus 
of  the  immense  plant  owned  and  operated  today  by  the  A.  H. 
Stange  Company.  From  year  to  year  additions  were  built  to 
the  plant  and  buildings  were  erected,  and  thus  it  expanded 
until  now  it  has  the  largest  capacity  for  making  stock  doors 
and  windows  of  any  factory  in  the  world.  Later,  in  January, 
1895,  M^-  Stange,  who  had  conducted  the  business  until  then 
in  his  own  name,  incorporated  the  A.  H.  Stange  Company. 
The  sawmill  is  one  of  the  largest  In  the  Wisconsin  Valley  and 
of  late  years  it  has  been  operated  day  and  night,  winter  and 
summer.  The  company  owns  timber  sufficient  for  operating 
a  number  of  years,  and  it  is  logged  with  the  object  of  utilizing 
in  the  factory  every  possible  inch  of  the  product. 

Mr.  Stange's  business  interests  are  largely  confined  to  the 
A.  H.  Stange  Company,  but  he  also  takes  considerable  interest 
in  the  Badger  Box  &  Lumber  Company,  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Wisconsin,  of  which  he  is  the  head. 

It  is  doubtful  if  within  the  Badger  State  can  be  found  one 
who  has  more  thoroughly  earned  the  title  "public  spirited 
citizen"  or  demonstrated  his  right  to  it  In  a  more  munificent 
and  practical  way.  In  all  movements  for  the  betterment  of 
his  home  town  he  is  prominent  and  in  most  of  the  more  im- 
portant he  has  taken  the  Initiative  with  purse  and  Individual 
effort.  Though,  as  a  rule,  taking  no  active  part  In  politics 
beyond  a  stanch  advocacy  of  Republican  doctrines  on  national 
questions,  he  has  served  six  terms  in  the  city  council  of  Mer- 
rill and  four  terms  as  mayor  of  the  city.  To  him  is  due  the 
erection  of  an  opera  house  In  that  city,  and  also  a  hotel  that  Is 
a  credit  to  It.  This  hotel,  the  Badger,  built  by  him.  Is  one  of 
the  finest  modern  hostelries  in  the  State.    The  erection  of  the 


148  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

opera  house  was  not  designed  as  a  commercial  project;  it  was 
built  with  the  expectation  that  it  might  afford  opportunity  for 
the  recreation  and  enlightenment  of  the  good  people  of  Mer- 
rill. An  incident  that  might  appropriately  be  mentioned 
here,  although  the  chronicling  of  it  probably  would  not  be  in 
accord  with  Mr.  Stange's  wishes,  was  his  donation  of  $10,000 
for  a  parochial  school  building  at  Merrill,  which  was  also  to 
have  rooms  for  a  library  which  he  equipped  with  books,  one- 
half  of  which  are  printed  in  German  and  the  other  half  in 
English.    This  donation  was  made  as  a  memorial  to  his  father. 

Another  instance  showing  Mr.  Stange's  generosity  was  his 
gift  to  the  city  of  Merrill  of  a  piece  of  land,  located  right  in 
the  heart  of  the  city,  for  park  purposes.  This  land  was  pur- 
chased at  a  good  price,  with  the  intent  of  donating  it  for  a 
public  park. 

While  located  at  Racine  Mr.  Stange  happily  married  an 
acquaintance  of  his  childhood  days.  Miss  Emille  Miller, 
whom  he  wedded  on  February  15,  1875.  The  fruit  of  this 
union  is  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  One  of  the  former  is 
Charles  H.  Stange,  vice  president  of  the  A.  H.  Stange  Com- 
pany. August  J.  Stange,  the  other  son,  is  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  company.  Of  the  daughters,  Hattie  is  now  the 
wife  of  C.  J.  Kinzel,  cashier  of  the  Lincoln  County  Bank,  and 
Adele  is  the  wife  of  E.  W.  Ellis,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Badger  Box  &  Lumber  Company.  The  other  two — Emille 
and  Lydia — are  still  members  of  the  parental  home. 


in  the  true  is  Leonard 

>,  for  >  a  factor  in 

in  Valley. 
What  he  t  today  is  the  of  the  courage  and  per- 

erence  that  has  been  his  heritage  through  hfe.  He  is  truly 
a  self-made  man,  without  the  arrogance  of  those  who  have 
fought  their  way  in  the  world  and  won,  but  with  all  the  polish 
and  instincts  of  a  gentleman.  As  a  youth  he  earned  money 
enough  to  pursue  a  course  in  a  business  college,  and  with  this 

MD  his   business   work.     He 
idustry,  to  follow  that  busi- 
5uccess  that  but  few  achieve. 
nr?ant  of  an  old  New  En^^<>"'^ 


to 


pine 

1  tlr 

H08MA    83_IIM     aRAM03_l 


LEONARD     NILES    ANSON 


Leonard   N.  Anson 


A  man  who  lives  well  in  the  popular  sense  may  not  live 
wisely,  but  the  man  who  lives  well  in  the  true  sense  lives  well 
indeed.  His  books  are  his  friends;  his  home  is  his  club, 
and  his  business  is  a  means  of  living  rather  than  a  reason  for 
living.  One  who  has  lived  well  in  the  true  sense  is  Leonard 
Niles  Anson,  of  Merrill,  Wisconsin,  for  many  years  a  factor  in 
the  lumber  manufacturing  industry  of  the  Wisconsin  Valley. 

What  he  enjoys  today  is  the  result  of  the  courage  and  per- 
severence  that  has  been  his  heritage  through  life.  He  is  truly 
a  self-made  man,  without  the  arrogance  of  those  who  have 
fought  their  way  in  the  world  and  won,  but  with  all  the  polish 
and  instincts  of  a  gentleman.  As  a  youth  he  earned  money 
enough  to  pursue  a  course  in  a  business  college,  and  with  this 
educational  equipment  he  took  up  his  business  work.  He 
became  interested  in  the  lumber  industry,  to  follow  that  busi- 
ness through  his  career  with  a  success  that  but  few  achieve. 

Leonard  N.  Anson  is  a  descendant  of  an  old  New  England 
family,  and  comes  from  a  section  of  the  country  that  has  given 
many  stalwart  sons  to  the  lumber  industry.  His  father,  Jesse 
Anson,  was  a  native  of  New  York  State,  who,  being  left  an 
orphan  in  youth,  turned  toward  the  West  as  holding  the  great- 
est possibilities  for  success.  He  migrated  to  Illinois,  where  he 
married  Miss  Maria  Sands,  whose  parents  were  residents  of 
the  Empire  State  and  who  also  came  of  a  New  England  family 
of  prominence.  In  1843  the  couple  left  the  Sucker  State  to 
make  their  home  in  a  new  locality,  at  Plover,  Portage  County, 
Wisconsin,  where  the  father  resided  until  his  death,  in  1894. 
It  was  at  Plover  that  Leonard  N.  Anson,  one  of  four  children, 
was  born  on  July  3,  1848. 

In  the  little  country  town  of  Plover,  its  site  cut  out  of  the 
pine  woods,  Leonard  Anson  grew  into  boyhood,  fond  of  the 

149 


150  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

games  and  pleasures  of  the  youth  of  his  period.  He  was  not 
given  to  dreaming  about  his  future,  for  he  was  too  busy  con- 
tributing his  share  to  the  support  of  the  family,  not  then  in 
prosperous  circumstances.  However,  he  was  not  denied  the 
education  afforded  by  the  district  school  in  Plover,  and  it  was 
there  that  he  received  his  early  scholastic  training,  which  he 
supplemented  in  later  life  by  a  study  of  the  rudiments  of  busi- 
ness and  for  which  he  paid  with  money  earned  by  labor  in  the 
woods  as  a  logger. 

Upon  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  when  the 
enlistment  of  troops  was  taking  place  in  Wisconsin  as  in  all  the 
other  states,  Jesse  Anson,  the  father  of  the  family,  enlisted  in 
the  Fifth  Regiment,  Wisconsin  Infantry,  and  started  for  the 
front.  Leonard  Anson  saw  his  father  march  away  and  became 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  becoming  a  soldier  himself  and  fight- 
ing for  the  cause  of  the  Union.  But  he  was  too  young  to  be 
accepted  for  service  in  the  first  three  years  of  the  war,  and  it 
was  not  until  early  in  1865,  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old, 
that  he  succeeded  in  enlisting  and  was  assigned  to  the  Fifty- 
second  Regiment,  Wisconsin  Infantry.  He  served  until  the 
close  of  hostilities  and  has  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
youngest  men  who  participated  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

In  1866  young  Anson  returned  to  the  scenes  of  his  youth  in 
Wisconsin  to  begin  his  business  career.  Not  many  avenues  of 
employment  were  open  to  one  of  his  limited  education  and  he 
finally  went  to  work  as  a  woodsman  for  one  of  the  large  con- 
cerns then  operating  in  that  section.  For  several  years  he 
labored  faithfully,  though  realizing  that  he  was  handicapped  in 
his  ambition  to  become  a  business  man  by  his  lack  of  educa- 
tion. He  saw  a  way  to  gain  this  prized  training  by  working 
and  saving  until  he  should  have  sufficient  means  to  permit  of 
his  going  to  some  college.  He  accumulated  enough  money 
to  take  him  to  Chicago,  where  he  took  a  course  at  the  business 
college  of  Bryant  &  Stratton.  Returning  to  Wisconsin  he 
was  better  equipped  mentally  to  reahze  his  cherished  idea  of 
engaging  in  business  for  himself.     He  started  as  a  contracting 


LEONARD  N.  ANSON  151 

logger,  and  his  knowledge  of  woods  work  and  business 
methods  enabled  him  to  make  a  success  on  a  small  scale  almost 
the  first  year  he  began  operations.  Subsequently,  he  became 
identified  with  the  Meehan  interests,  through  his  m.arriage  to 
a  member  of  the  family,  and  he  largely  extended  his  operations. 

Going  to  Merrill,  Lincoln  County,  in  1883,  Mr.  Anson 
entered  upon  a  new  era  in  his  career,  and  he  has  made  that  city 
his  home  and  the  headquarters  of  his  business  operations  ever 
since.  He  became  associated  with  G.  F.  Gilkey,  of  Oshkosh, 
Wisconsin,  and  John  Landers,  of  Stevens  Point,  Wisconsin, 
the  trio  forming  the  firm  of  Gilkey,  Anson  &  Co.  to  engage  in 
the  manufacture  of  lumber.  Subsequently,  the  business  was 
incorporated  as  the  Gilkey  &  Anson  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Anson  became  president;  Mr.  Landers,  vice  president,  and 
Mr.  Gilkey,  secretary.  The  original  firm  bought  a  sawmill  at 
Merrill  and  reequipped  it,  rendering  it  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete mills  in  the  Northwest.  Mr.  Gilkey's  health  failed  him 
in  1888  and  the  active  duties  of  the  company  fell  chiefly  upon 
Mr.  Anson.  Mr.  Landers  looked  after  the  woods  end  of  the 
business  and  continued  to  do  so  until  his  removal  to  Malvern, 
Arkansas.  Since  then  the  woods  work  has  been  under  the 
personal  supervision  of  George  M.  Anson,  Mr.  Anson's  son. 
The  capacity  of  the  company's  sawmill  is  150,000  feet  a  day. 
The  mill  plant  always  has  included  a  planing  mill  and  in  recent 
years  a  large  box  factory  has  been  operated  in  connection. 
The  Gilkey  &  Anson  Company  is  one  of  the  leading  manufac- 
turers of  lumber  in  the  Wisconsin  Valley. 

Another  corporation  of  which  Mr.  Anson  is  president  is 
the  Anson-Hixon  Sash  &  Door  Company,  of  Merrill.  F.  P. 
Hixon  is  vice  president  of  the  company;  G.  M.  Anson,  treas- 
urer, and  SigHeineman,  secretary.  The  plant  of  the  concern 
at  Merrill  is  complete  in  every  detail  and  has  a  daily  capacity 
of  1,500  doors,  3,000  window  frames  and  500  pairs  of  blinds. 

There  is  an  extensive  branch  wholesale  plant  at  Indian- 
apolis, Indiana,  established  in  1902,  and  another  at  Evansville, 
Indiana,  which  was  established  in  April,  1906. 


152  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Still  another  interest  of  Mr.  Anson's  is  in  the  Arkansas 
Land  &  Lumber  Company,  which  was  formed  and  is  controlled 
by  Wisconsin  Valley  lumbermen.  The  company,  which  is 
capitalized  at  $1,250,000,  owns  and  controls  more  than  1,000,- 
000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine  timber  near  Malvern,  Arkansas. 
Another  interest  of  Mr.  Anson's  is  the  National  Bank  of 
Merrill,  of  which  he  is  vice  president. 

Mr.  Anson  married  Miss  Hannah  A.  Meehan,  a  native  of 
Canada,  whose  family  was  heavily  interested  in  lumbering, 
December  29,  1872.  The  couple  has  two  children — Mae 
Teresa  Anson  and  George  Meehan  Anson,  the  latter  being 
associated  with  his  father  in  business.  The  family  occupies  a 
beautiful  home  on  West  Main  Street,  Merrill.  Mr,  Anson's 
chief  pleasure  is  derived  from  his  home,  and  his  well-filled  and 
well-selected  library  is  his  hobby  and  recreation.  He  takes  a 
keener  pleasure  in  general  reading  than  does  the  average  busy 
man  of  aflFairs.  He  is  somewhat  catholic  in  his  literary  tastes, 
although  if  he  has  a  special  fondness  it  is  for  history. 

Mr.  Anson  has  given  to  public  life  that  share  of  his  effort 
and  energy  demanded  as  the  duty  of  good  citizens.  Twice  he 
has  served  Merrill  as  mayor  and  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
city  council  and  the  school  board.  He  is  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  he  was  a  delegate  from 
the  Tenth  Congressional  District  of  Wisconsin  to  the  national 
Republican  convention  held  in  Chicago  in  1904.  He  is  a 
member  of  Lincoln  Post  No.  131,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 


d 

-aed   to   the  ol  .  onnor.  of 

cdd,  Wisconsin,  began  life  as  a  farmer  lad,  but  to   _^ 

i,..  ....^rest  in  hardwood  production  is  among  the  largest  in 

the  Badger  State. 

William  D.  Connor  is  of  Scotch  ancestry.  He  was  born 
January  24,  1864,  near  Stratford,  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada. 
He  was  scarcely  eight  years  old  when  his  father  and  mother 
err  '  ^  e  border  line  with  the  former's  two  brothers  and 
''  '  '        '    '        '  :^rn  corner  of  Wood 

located  on     '      n 
vlarshfield       *  he 


of 

t ' 


a 

his  St  he 

went  to  d 

with  tht  1  view 

sqOMMOO    .a     MAU-JINA/ 


x 


\ 


ti' 


\A/IL_I_IAM     D.    CONNOR 


William  D.  Connor 


Lumbering  and  farming  have  borne  an  intimate  relation- 
ship to  each  other  since  the  days  of  the  pioneer,  whose  first 
work  in  many  sections  of  the  country  was  the  clearing  of  the 
forest  growth  from  the  lands  he  purposed  cultivating.  Some- 
times these  clearing  operations  became  more  profitable  and 
interesting  than  farming,  with  the  result  that  the  agriculturist 
often  turned  to  the  other  occupation.  W.  D.  Connor,  of 
Marshfield,  Wisconsin,  began  life  as  a  farmer  lad,  but  today 
his  interest  in  hardwood  production  is  among  the  largest  in 
the  Badger  State. 

William  D.  Connor  is  of  Scotch  ancestry.  He  was  born 
January  24,  1864,  near  Stratford,  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada. 
He  was  scarcely  eight  years  old  when  his  father  and  mother 
crossed  the  border  line  with  the  former's  two  brothers  and 
their  families  and  settled  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  Wood 
County,  Wisconsin.  W.  D.  Connor's  father  located  on  a  farm 
ten  miles  east  of  what  is  now  the  town  of  Marshfield.  The 
tract  that  he  chose  was  called  a  farm  more  by  courtesy  than  for 
any  practical  reason,  as  it  was  little  less  than  a  rectangular 
patch  of  unbroken  wilderness.  But  with  that  Scotch  faith, 
pluck  and  perseverance,  the  senior  Connor,  aided  by  the  boy 
of  eight  years,  began  improvement  of  the  farm,  cutting  of? 
the  timber  and  destroying  the  stumps  that  the  soil  might  be 
cultivated. 

Those  early  settlers,  thoughtful  as  to  the  future  of  their 
children,  established  schools  where  the  boys  and  girls  might  be 
educated  and  prepared  to  make  their  way  in  life.  It  was  to 
one  of  these  district  schools  that  young  Connor  was  sent  when 
his  services  upon  the  farm  could  be  best  spared.  Later,  he 
went  to  the  city  normal  school  at  Oshkosh.  He  was  imbued 
with  the  ambition  to  become  a  lawyer,  and  it  was  with  a  view 


153 


154  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

of  studying  to  prepare  himself  for  this  profession  that  he  en- 
tered Lake  Forest  University,  Lake  Forest,  IlHnois,  after  two 
years  at  the  normal  school.  But  his  ambition  in  this  line  was 
not  to  be  gratified,  owing  to  circumstances  over  which  he  had 
no  control.  His  father's  state  of  health  and  strength  did  not 
permit  him  to  oversee  the  farm  and  a  sawmill  at  Auburndale 
in  which  he  had  secured  an  interest  in  1878,  and  W.  D.  Con- 
nor was  called  home  to  lighten  the  cares  of  his  parent. 

He  set  about  assisting  his  father  by  taking  charge  of  the 
manufacturing  operations  at  Auburndale,  a  settlement  in  Wood 
County,  not  a  great  distance  from  Marshifield.  He  had  prac- 
tically no  knowledge  of  the  industry  when  he  went  to  Auburn- 
dale, but  he  had  the  pluck  of  his  ancestors,  and,  with  the  train- 
ing he  had  obtained  in  the  normal  school,  he  set  about  to  make 
the  operations  profitable  and  to  follow  the  vocation  as  his  life 
work.  He  took  hold  of  the  work  of  handling  the  sawmill 
operations  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and  a  determination 
to  conduct  the  business  on  a  successful  scale.  While  at  the 
first  he  had  the  assistance  of  his  father  in  the  management  of 
the  mill,  yet  as  time  passed  the  entire  work  devolved  upon  him 
and  he  proved  that  he  was  capable  of  not  only  handling  the 
business,  but  of  extending  it  as  well. 

The  continued  growth  of  the  Connor  lumber  interests  led 
to  the  establishment,  in  1890,  of  the  R.  Connor  Company. 
The  energy  and  progressiveness  displayed  by  Mr.  Connor  and 
his  brother  resulted  in  largely  expanding  the  business  of  the 
company  from  year  to  year,  and,  by  1894,  the  R.  Connor  Com- 
pany was  operating  two  mills  in  Clark  County  and  seven  other 
mills  were  cutting  for  it.  The  aggregate  annual  output  of 
these  operations  was  from  40,000,000  to  50,000,000  feet  of  lum- 
ber. 

When  the  general  business  depression  of  1893  halted  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  at  large,  hardwood  lumber,  like  many 
other  commodities,  was  hard  to  sell  and  even  harder  for  many 
to  hold,  either  because  they  were  financially  unable  to  carry  it, 
or  because  where  means  were  not  lacking  they  did  not  have 


WILLIAM  D.  CONNOR  155 

the  necessary  faith  or  foresight  to  anticipate  the  coming  of  the 
upward  turn.  When  a  sharp  advance  in  hardwood  values 
came  in  1896  and  1897  three  concerns  in  Wisconsin  held  the 
bulk  of  the  hardwood  stocks  in  that  State,  and  one  of  those 
concerns  was  the  R.  Connor  Company. 

Besides  the  mill  at  Auburndale,  which  is  on  the  Wisconsin 
Central  Railway,  the  R.  Connor  Company  operates  a  mill  at 
Stratford,  Marathon  County,  on  the  Chicago  &  North-West- 
ern  Railway,  this  plant  having  a  capacity  of  20,000,000  feet  a 
year.  The  timber  supply  for  this  operation  is  sufficient  to  keep 
the  mill  running  for  about  twelve  years. 

The  largest  interests  of  the  Connor's  are  located  in  the 
northern  part  of  Wisconsin  and  are  of  a  comparatively  late 
origin.  At  Laona,  on  a  branch  of  the  Peshtigo  River,  in 
Forest  County,  Mr.  Connor  and  his  brother  conduct  a  large 
operation  under  the  style  of  the  Connor  Lumber  &  Land 
Company.  The  Laona  plant,  which  is  on  the  Chicago  & 
North-Western  Railway,  consists  of  a  double  band  mill  with  a 
band  resaw,  a  shingle  and  lath  mill  and  a  planing  mill.  To 
reach  the  tracts  of  timber  owned  by  the  company  a  logging 
road  twenty  miles  in  length  is  operated  and  over  this  road  is 
brought  the  supply  of  logs  for  the  mill.  The  mill  has  an  out- 
put of  20,000,000  feet  a  year,  and,  operating  at  the  existing 
volume  of  production,  the  plant  has  sufficient  timber  to  back  it 
for  nearly  or  quite  thirty  years.  In  1896  the  headquarters  of 
the  R.  Connor  Company  and  the  Connor  Lumber  &  Land 
Company  were  established  at  Marshfield,  where  a  conveniently 
arranged  office  building  was  erected. 

Mr.  Connor,  with  his  brother,  Robert  Connor,  has  large 
lumber  interests  in  Ashland,  Iron  and  Oneida  counties,  Wis- 
consin, and  about  20,000  acres  in  the  northern  peninsula  of 
Michigan.  These  holdings  have  not  been  denuded  of  any  of 
the  timber,  but  are  being  held  for  later  operations. 

Outside  of  the  Connor  Lumber  &  Land  Company  and  the 
R.  Connor  Company,  Mr.  Connor  has  few  commercial  inter- 
ests to  occupy  his  attention.     He  is  president  of  the  American 


156  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

National  Bank,  of  Marshfield,  and  is  interested  in  the  Consoli- 
dated Water  Power  &  Paper  Company,  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Wisconsin. 

Mr.  Connor  married  Miss  May  Bell  Witter,  a  daughter  ol 
G.  F.  Witter,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Wisconsin,  August  12,  1888. 
The  couple  resided  at  the  Connor  homestead  until  1896  when, 
following  the  concentration  of  the  business  at  Marshfield,  Mr. 
Connor  built  a  home  there.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Connor  are  the 
parents  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Mr.  Connor's  public  life  has  been  a  most  interesting  one, 
and  forms  a  chapter  in  the  political  history  of  Wisconsin.  In 
Wood  County  he  served  upon  the  county  board  and  acted  as 
president  of  that  body.  He  has  been  a  councilman  of  Marsh- 
field and  was  president  of  the  council,  and,  while  occupying 
the  latter  position,  he  succeeded,  where  previous  attempts  had 
failed,  in  organizing  and  securing  for  Marshfield  a  fine,  free 
public  library.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Wood  County  Training  School  for  Teachers  and  one  of  the 
trustees  of  Carroll  College,  at  Waukesha. 

He  is  a  Republican  of  a  stalwart  type  and  is  an  ally  of  Sen- 
ator Robert  M.  La  Follette.  In  one  of  the  fiercest  political 
campaigns  ever  waged  in  Wisconsin,  or  any  other  state,  he  was 
chairman  of  the  RepubHcan  State  Central  Committee.  In  the 
distinguished  service  which  he  has  rendered  to  the  State  and 
its  citizens  he  has  been  dominated  by  devotion  to  principles 
rather  than  to  any  individual  and  has  not  been  mere  plastic 
clay  in  the  hands  of  the  leader  of  the  movement.  For  twenty 
years  he  has  been  active  as  a  champion  of  good  government 
and  an  active  figure  in  Republican  politics ;  and  although  he 
has  not  shrunk  from  the  larger  opportunities  for  public  service 
which  have  come  to  him  unsought,  in  all  that  time  never  was 
a  seeker  for  public  office.  In  September,  1906,  however,  as 
the  outcome  of  a  hotly  fought  campaign,  he  became  the 
Republican  nominee  for  Lieutenant  Governor. 


ag  me  wiiice  pine  or  ;i 
;;r  gr<      '    were  all  but  oven 

:crof  hardwooda,  and  o.  the 

e  u  rt  Connor,  of  Marshficici,  vVis- 

1  hough  comparatively  a  young  man,  Mr.  Connor  has  been 
a  lumberman  of  prominence  during  his  entire  career.  He 
has  had  a  practical  experience  in  manufacturing,  having  arisen 
from  the  position  of  a  handler  in  the  yard  up  through  the  mill 
until  he  re  the  post  of  superintendent  and  part  owner  of 

the  c  R.  Connor   Company  and  the 

'.ny,  both  having  headquarters 

'  on  the  farm  of  his  parents  at 
onsin,  February  27,   1878. 
o  settled  in  the  year  1872  in 
■■'  was  an  unsettled  and  unc 

fr    f 


Indiana,  reinaiaiajg 


yiOMMOO    TS=l3aO<=» 


ROBERT     CONNOR 


Robert  Connor 


Wisconsin,  long  noted  in  the  annals  of  the  lumber  indus- 
try for  its  white  pine  production,  has  yet  to  have  written  a 
concluding  chapter  on  a  product  almost  as  important— hard- 
woods. In  cutting  the  white  pine  of  that  State  in  the  earlier 
years,  the  other  growths  were  all  but  overlooked.  Today  the 
Badger  State  is  a  large  producer  of  hardwoods,  and  one  of  the 
factors  in  this  trade  is  Robert  Connor,  of  Marshfield,  Wis- 
consin. 

Though  comparatively  a  young  man,  Mr.  Connor  has  been 
a  lumberman  of  prominence  during  his  entire  career.  He 
has  had  a  practical  experience  in  manufacturing,  having  arisen 
from  the  position  of  a  handler  in  the  yard  up  through  the  mill 
until  he  reached  the  post  of  superintendent  and  part  owner  of 
the  extensive  business  of  the  R.  Connor  Company  and  the 
Connor  Lumber  &  Land  Company,  both  having  headquarters 
at  Marshfield,  Wisconsin. 

Robert  Connor  was  born  on  the  farm  of  his  parents  at 
Auburndale,  Wood  County,  Wisconsin,  February  27,  1878. 
His  parents  were  Canadians  who  settled  in  the  year  1872  in 
Wood  County,  which  at  that  time  was  an  unsettled  and  uncul- 
tivated frontier  country.  The  farm,  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Con- 
nor's birth,  was  a  well-paying  one  and  a  good  example  of  what 
Scotch  persistence  could  accomplish.  His  father  had  also 
become  interested  in  a  sawmill  located  at  Auburndale.  Fol- 
lowing in  the  steps  of  his  older  brother,  William  D.  Connor, 
Robert  as  a  boy  went  to  the  district  school  provided  by  the 
progressive  community,  and  outside  of  school  hours  and  school 
terms  did  his  share  of  work  on  the  farm,  and  in  the  winter 
took  a  hand  in  the  logging  and  lumbering  operations.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  he  entered  Hanover  College,  at  Hanover, 
Indiana,  remaining  there  for  three  years. 

U7 


158  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

When  out  of  college  young  Connor  set  about  with  a  will  to 
learn  the  lumber  business.  His  first  experience  was  in  piling 
lumber  in  the  yard  at  Auburndale,  and,  later,  he  studied  and 
became  proficient  in  inspection.  When  the  snow  came  he 
went  into  the  woods  with  the  crews  to  acquaint  himself  with 
woods  work.  He  followed  this  up  with  work  in  and  about  the 
saw  and  planing  mill  and  within  two  years  he  became  superin- 
tendent of  the  mill  and  had  general  charge  of  the  Connor 
farm,  which  had  grown  to  be  a  profitable  enterprise. 

When  the  R.  Connor  Company  was  organized,  in  1890, 
Robert  Connor  became  vice  president  of  that  concern,  his 
brother,  W.  D.  Connor,  being  president.  The  company  was 
formed  to  care  for  an  expanding  business,  as  the  brothers  real- 
ized the  great  importance  of  the  hardwood  industry  and  the 
promising  future  before  it.  Extending  its  operations  during 
the  next  two  or  three  years,  the  R.  Connor  Company  in  1894 
was  operating  two  mills  in  Clark  County,  Wisconsin,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  seven  other  mills  were  sawing  for  the  company. 
The  combined  output  of  the  mills  owned  and  controlled  by 
the  company  was   between  40,000,000  and  50,000,000  feet  a 

year. 

Despite  the  policy  of  retrenchment  followed  by  a  large 
majority  of  operators  during  the  industrial  depression  that 
halted  the  progress  of  the  country  in  1893,  the  Connors  were 
confident  of  the  ultimate  value  and  prices  of  hardwood.  In- 
stead of  shutting  down  their  plant  they  continued  to  manufac- 
ture, and,  in  addition,  invested  in  timber  lands  when  oppor- 
tunity was  afforded.  The  wisdom  of  their  course  was 
demonstrated  in  1896  and  1897,  when  resumption  of  general 
business  activity  resulted  in  a  decided  advance  in  hardwood 
values,  and  the  R.  Connor  Company  was  one  of  the  three 
concerns  holding  the  bulk  of  the  hardwood  stocks  in  Wis- 
consin. 

The  mill  at  Auburndale,  on  the  Wisconsin  Central  Rail- 
way, is  supplemented  by  another  mill  at  Stratford,  Marathon 
County,   on  the   Chicago  &  North-Western    Railway.     The 


ROBERT  CONNOR  159 

Stratford  plant  has  a  capacity  of  20,000,000  feet  a  year  and  is 
backed  by  sufficient  timber  to  keep  the  mill  running  for  about 
twelve  years. 

One  of  the  principal  interests  of  Mr.  Connor  is  the  Connor 
Lumber  &  Land  Company,  which  was  organized  to  operate 
on  a  large  scale  in  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Connor  and  his  brother, 
in  seeking  further  timber  holdings,  started  by  rail  for  northern 
Wisconsin,  and  when  the  end  of  the  line  was  reached  they 
tramped  sixty  miles  through  timber  that  had  not  been  touched 
with  an  ax,  except  in  a  few  places  along  streams  where  pine 
had  been  cut  and  driven  out  on  the  freshets.  For  two  weeks 
they  lived  in  the  woods  on  provisions  they  had  packed  and  on 
such  game  as  they  were  able  to  kill.  The  result  of  this  ex- 
pedition was  the  purchase  of  considerable  tracts  of  timber  in 
Forest  County  and  the  formation  of  the  Connor  Lumber  & 
Land  Company.  A  site  for  the  mill  was  picked  out  on  Rat 
River,  a  branch  of  the  Peshtigo  River,  at  a  point  on  the  Chi- 
cago &  North-Western  Railway,  which  is  known  as  Laona. 

The  plant  at  Laona  is  a  modern  one  in  every  respect,  the 
sawmill  being  equipped  with  a  double  band  and  a  band  resaw, 
and  a  shingle  and  lath  mill  and  planing  mill  being  operated, 
in  addition.  The  mill  has  an  output  of  20,000,000  feet  a  year 
and  its  product  is  distributed  in  the  East  and  middle  West. 
To  tap  the  timber  and  furnish  an  adequate  and  unfailing  sup- 
ply of  logs  for  the  mill,  a  logging  road  was  built  which  is  now 
twenty  miles  long  and  has  a  complete  equipment  of  motive 
power  and  cars.  The  timber  owned,  it  is  estimated,  will  fur- 
nish logs  for  the  mill  for  more  than  twenty  years  at  its  present 
cutting  capacity.  The  headquarters  of  the  R.  Connor  Com- 
pany and  the  Connor  Lumber  &  Land  Company  were  moved 
to  Marshfield  in  1896,  where  the  affairs  of  the  two  concerns 
are  directed  by  Mr.  Connor  and  his  brother. 

Besides  these  interests  already  enumerated,  Mr.  Connor, 
with  his  brother,  has  large  holdings  of  timber  land  in  Oneida, 
Iron  and  Ashland  counties,  Wisconsin,  though  operations  on 
these  tracts  have  not  been  started.     Mr.  Connor  is  also  inter- 


i6o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ested  in  about  20,000  acres  of  land  in  the  northern  peninsula 
of  Michigan. 

Like  his  Scotch  ancestors,  Mr.  Connor  has  shown  a  genius 
for  good  government  and  a  capacity  for  helping  rightly  to 
shape  the  social  life  and  relationships  of  the  community.  Al- 
though a  young  man,  he  was  of  much  service  as  a  resident  of 
Marathon  County,  on  its  board  of  supervisors,  and  also  did 
valuable  service  with  the  State  militia,  from  which  he  received 
an  honorable  discharge.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Business 
Men's  Club  of  Wausau  and  a  charter  member  of  the  local 
lodge  of  Elks  at  Marshfield. 

Mr.  Connor  married  Miss  Florence  Glazer,  a  daughter  of 
Mrs.  Louise  M.  Glazer,  of  Madison,  Indiana.  The  wedding 
took  place  October  29,  1902. 


G 


T'  largely  men  of  the 

at  the  head  of  the 
'^  as  their  vocation.^ 
ed  in  a  c  --g 

-   aff'  .1- 
-  iong  apprr                                                                         for 

1     nn^'fion     nf  ,  -  of 

..-., oin,  i«  a  splendid  type  of  the.younger  gen- 
eration successfully  shouldering  an  enterprise  of  magnitude. 

He  did  not  start  on  the  upper  round  of  the  ladder,  but 
began  his  practical  education  in  the  woods — the  beginning  of 
lumber  knowledge.  After  thoroughly  acquainting  himself 
with  a  specific  end  of  the  business  he  turned  to  the  next  step 
of  production,  to  that  at  the  conclusion  of  his  training  along 
'         '  '  '"'    fitted  for  the  responsible  duties 

tary  and  treasurer  of  the  Page  & 

Landeck  is  the  active  genius 

i  18  held  at  his  true  worth  by 

t  of  the  business  to 


-If 
ting  the  office  of 
ber  business  in  Mil- 
wauk  was  chiefly  in  the  han- 

dling of  white  pine.  i.  in  i88c.  by  the  estab- 

><03aMA_l     MHOL     3VATeU£) 


1 


CBUSTAVE    JOHN     LANDEO 


K 


Gustave  J.  Landeck 


In  business,  politics,  science  or  art  it  is  largely  men  of  the 
younger  generation  who  today  are  found  at  the  head  of  the 
industry  or  profession  which  they  follow  as  their  vocation. 
By  education  they  are  prepared  in  a  comparatively  few  years 
to  take  up  the  serious  affairs  of  life,  while  in  former  genera- 
tions a  long  apprenticeship  was  necessary  to  qualify  a  man  for 
a  position  of  trust  and  responsibility.  G.  J.  Landeck,  of 
Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  is  a  splendid  type  of  the  younger  gen- 
eration successfully  shouldering  an  enterprise  of  magnitude. 

He  did  not  start  on  the  upper  round  of  the  ladder,  but 
began  his  practical  education  in  the  woods — the  beginning  of 
lumber  knowledge.  After  thoroughly  acquainting  himself 
with  a  specific  end  of  the  business  he  turned  to  the  next  step 
of  production,  so  that  at  the  conclusion  of  his  training  along 
these  lines  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  responsible  duties 
he  was  to  assume.  As  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Page  & 
Landeck  Lumber  Company,  Mr.  Landeck  is  the  active  genius 
in  the  affairs  of  the  concern  and  is  held  at  his  true  worth  by 
those  who  have  entrusted  the  management  of  the  business  to 
him. 

Gustave  John  Landeck  is  the  eldest  son  of  William  Landeck 
and  Theresa  Kaliebe  Landeck,  and  was  born  in  Milwaukee, 
April  14,  1870.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Stettin,  Prussia, 
who  came  to  the  Wisconsin  city  to  follow  his  trade  as  a  car- 
penter. The  lad  pursued  his  studies  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  city,  supplementing  this  education  with  a  course  at  an 
academy  and  university.  Even  as  a  schoolboy  he  was  familiar 
with  lumber  nomenclature  through  frequenting  the  office  of 
his  father,  who  had  embarked  in  the  lumber  business  in  Mil- 
waukee, in  1878.  This  early  business  was  chiefly  in  the  han- 
dling of  white  pine,  which  was  followed,  in  1885,  by  the  estab- 

161 


i62  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

lishment  of  a  yard  for  the  sale  of  northern  hardwoods.  Sub- 
sequently, William  Landeck  became  the  junior  member  of  the 
firm  of  Page  &  Landeck,  which  carried  on  the  manufacturing 
business  at  Marion,  Waupaca  County,  Wisconsin.  In  the  face 
of  these  facts  it  seems  but  natural  that  the  junior  Landeck 
should  have  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business  as  his  father. 

Leaving  the  academy  where  he  was  studying,  in  1889 
young  Landeck,  who  was  then  nineteen  years  old,  expressed 
his  wiUingness  to  follow  the  plans  mapped  out  by  his  father  for 
his  practical  training  in  the  lumber  business.  These  plans 
were  carefully  studied  by  the  parent,  for  he  was  anxious  to  see 
his  son  take  up  the  reins  of  business  and  manipulate  them  well 
by  the  time  he  himself  should  wish  to  give  up  active  life. 
Unlike  other  young  men  of  his  acquaintance,  young  Landeck 
gave  up  willingly  the  pleasures  of  urban  life  to  go  up  into  the 
woods  of  Waupaca  County  at  the  scene  of  the  operations  of 
Page  &  Landeck,  where  there  was  nothing  to  distract  his 
attention  from  the  serious  affairs  ahead  of  him.  He  studied 
closely  the  various  stages  of  lumber  manufacture  from  the 
felHng  of  the  timber  to  its  sawing  and  grading.  This  course 
was  not  one  of  a  few  months  or  a  year;  he  was  in  the  woods 
and  at  Marion  for  a  period  of  six  years.  For  nearly  two  years 
he  graded  and  inspected  the  lumber  shipped  from  the  mill,  so 
that  at  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship  he  had  a  knowledge  of 
manufacturing  such  as  is  possessed  by  few  men  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  wholesaling  of  lumber. 

In  1895  Mr.  Landeck  left  the  mill  at  Marion  to  return  to 
Milwaukee,  where  he  entered  the  ofRce  of  Page  &  Landeck 
to  take  charge  of  the  sales  department  of  the  business.  In  this 
department  he  gave  evidence  of  ability  by  his  skillful  handhng 
of  the  matters  which  came  before  him.  Several  years  later  the 
firm  acquired  timber  lands  and  a  mill  at  Deer  Brook,  Lang- 
lade County,  Wisconsin,  where  operations  were  carried  on 
under  the  name  of  the  Deer  Brook  Lumber  Company.  In 
1899  the  plant  was  moved  to  Crandon,  Forest  County,  Wis- 
consin, where  the  Page  &  Landeck  Lumber  Company,  which 


GUSTAVE  J.  LANDECK  163 

meanwhile  had  been  incorporated,  began  the  manufacture  of 
hardwoods,  pine  and  hemlock  on  a  more  extensive  scale  than 
ever  before  attempted  by  the  concern. 

The  Page  &  Landeck  Lumber  Company's  plant  at  Crandon 
comprises  a  band  sawmill,  with  an  annual  capacity  of  15,000,- 
000  feet  of  lumber;  a  general  store  carrying  a  large  stock  of 
merchandise,  and  a  logging  road,  nine  miles  long,  stretching 
into  the  timber  property  of  the  company.  The  railroad, 
which  is  equipped  with  two  locomotives  and  about  thirty  cars, 
is  of  standard  gauge  and  connects  at  Crandon  with  the  Chicago 
&  North-Western  Railway.  The  mill  plant  is  lighted  by  elec- 
tricity and  is  operated  with  a  day  and  night  shift.  The  timber 
owned  by  the  company  in  Forest  County  is  unique  in  the 
northern  country  in  the  feature  that  no  railroad  traverses  the 
land,  the  property  being  the  largest  tract  of  timber  in  Wiscon- 
sin having  that  distinction.  On  the  25,000  acres  to  which  the 
company  holds  title  is  estimated  to  be  approximately  200,000,- 
000  feet  of  oak,  basswood,  birch,  elm,  hemlock  and  pine  timber, 
a  supply  sufficient  to  last  the  company  at  the  present  rate  of 
cutting  for  fifteen  years.  A  railroad  through  the  company's 
property,  known  as  the  Madison  &  Northern  Railroad,  was 
started  in  1906  by  owners  of  stumpage  in  the  Fox  River 
Valley  and  paper-making  concerns. 

Until  1902  the  Page  &  Landeck  Lumber  Company  oper- 
ated a  sales  yard  in  Milwaukee,  where  large  stocks  were 
carried  for  the  convenience  of  shipping  to  the  trade.  The 
business  is  now  handled  through  the  main  office,  shipments 
being  made  direct  from  the  mills.  Besides  the  output  of  the 
Crandon  mill  sold  by  the  company,  large  cuts  of  other  mills 
are  bought,  and  the  aggregate  amount  of  lumber  handled  is 
30,000,000  feet  a  year. 

Mr.  Landeck  always  has  taken  an  active  part  in  association 
work.  He  is  a  veteran  member  of  the  Wisconsin  Hardwood 
Lumbermen's  Association  and  has  been  active  in  its  affairs. 
At  the  1906  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Hardwood  Lum- 
ber Association,  held  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  Mr.  Landeck 


i64  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

was  elected  a  director  of  the  association  in  recognition  of  his 
eminence  in  the  trade  of  the  Badger  State,  which  is  largely 
represented  in  the  organization. 

Mr.  Landeck  is  a  member  of  the  Deutscher  Club,  an  influ- 
ential organization  of  Milwaukee,  and  of  the  Milwaukee 
Athletic  Club.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Concat- 
enated Order  of  Hoo-Hoo.  The  Page  &  Landeck  Lumber 
Company  is  a  member  of  the  Merchants'  &  Manufacturers' 
Association  of  Milwaukee,  which  comprises  all  the  leading 
business  concerns  of  that  city.  Mr.  Landeck  well  knows  the 
art  of  hospitality,  hundreds  of  lumbermen  who  have  visited 
the  Cream  City  as  members  of  the  lumbermen's  associations 
having  enjoyed  his  amiable  resourcefulness  along  these  lines. 

Mr.  Landeck  has  been  content  to  remain  a  bachelor. 
Though  a  hard  worker  and  devoted  to  his  business,  he  finds 
time  to  mingle  with  the  society  of  his  native  city  and  has  a  wide 
circle  of  friends. 


r-) 


., ,  it  is  only  tho-. 

rprising  who  have  been 
I  resources  of  this  vast 
J  1?  a,.  .  .ement  of  success  not  to 
>uu  wiiuc  iu  iinportant  standard  for  the  measure- 
iiiciu  ui  uusiness  men  is  that  of  wealth,  nevertheless  the  char- 
acter of  a   man  is  even  more  to  be  considered  than  what  he 
accomplishes.     Measured  in  either  way  David  Joyce,  of  Lyons, 
Iowa,  who  died  December  4,  1904,  was  a  remarkable  man. 

He  was  one  of  the  captains  of  industry,  able  to  command 
men,  things  and  events  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose. 
}'  *      n  and  far-reaching.     He  saw   the 

and  1  with  a 

i^  '1  predic- 

t  !   its  enter- 

i  to 

•i 
\- 


books.     : . 

vvas  Lniriy  \v.t»ia  vf«  ,<,  t'^'aauviu  1119  ^vu^uiva 


30V0L    aiVAQ 


^m"^-' 


DAVID    JOYCI 


David  Joyce 


Men  who  have  won  success  in  the  lumber  industry  have 
not  been  speculators  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  term.  They 
have  been  speculators  only  in  the  sense  that  they  have  dared 
to  back  their  judgment  by  investment;  and  it  is  only  those 
who  have  been  strong,  brave  and  enterprising  who  have  been 
able  to  draw  riches  from  the  natural  resources  of  this  vast 
country.  While  such  ability  is  an  element  of  success  not  to 
be  ignored,  and  while  an  important  standard  for  the  measure- 
ment of  business  men  is  that  of  wealth,  nevertheless  the  char- 
acter of  a  man  is  even  more  to  be  considered  than  what  he 
accomplishes.  Measured  in  either  way  David  Joyce,  of  Lyons, 
Iowa,  who  died  December  4,  1904,  was  a  remarkable  man. 

He  was  one  of  the  captains  of  industry,  able  to  command 
men,  things  and  events  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose. 
His  mental  vision  was  keen  and  far-reaching.  He  saw  the 
possibilities  in  the  lumber  business  and  grasped  them  with  a 
strong  hand.  He  believed  in  the  fulfillment  of  his  own  predic- 
tions regarding  the  industry  and  in  the  success  of  its  enter- 
prises; and  where  indifferent  fate  moved  but  slowly  to  the 
accomplishment  of  his  ends  he  forced  a  compliance  with  his 
will. 

David  Joyce  came  of  old  New  England  Puritan  stock — 
strong,  bold  and  resourceful.  He  was  born  in  Berkshire 
County,  Massachusetts,  February  26,  1826.  He  received  a 
common  school  education,  but  added  to  it,  in  the  intervals  of 
his  employment  as  a  youth,  the  training  of  a  civil  engineer. 
At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  entered  the  ofBce  of  his  father, 
who  conducted  a  blast  furnace  and  foundry  and  machine  shop, 
and  when  only  fifteen  years  old  assumed  entire  charge  of  the 
books.  His  connection  with  his  father  was  continued  until  he 
was  thirty  years  old.     During  this  time  he  pursued  his  studies 

165 


i66  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

in  mathematics  and  engineering  until  he  was  master  of  all  the 
more  important  branches  of  those  sciences. 

In  1848  Mr.  Joyce  opened  a  mercantile  business  in  connec- 
tion with  other  enterprises  and  assumed  active  charge  of  two 
general  stores.  It  was  in  1857  that  he  really  began  the  career 
which  placed  him  well  to  the  front  among  the  practical  busi- 
ness men  of  the  country.  In  that  year  he  purchased  his 
father's  entire  business,  uniting  all  the  departments  under  one 
head  and  continued  in  charge  of  them  until  i860.  During 
this  time,  however,  he  had  made  investments  in  the  West,  and 
in  the  fall  of  i860  he  departed  for  Lyons,  Iowa,  with  the  in- 
tention of  closing  up  some  investments  which  he  had  made 
there.  His  plans  in  this  particular  were  never  carried  out. 
Instead  of  closing  his  investments  at  Lyons  he  increased  them 
and  made  that  city  his  residence  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

His  initial  venture  in  the  lumber  business  was  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1861,  when  he  secured  the  property  known  as  the 
"Stumbaugh  mill."  Here  he  served  his  self-appointed  ap- 
prenticeship in  the  business  which  thereafter  constituted  the 
chief  pursuit  of  his  life,  and  in  which  he  was  so  eminently 
successful.  In  1864  he  became  associated  with  S.  I.  Smith 
under  the  title  of  Joyce  &  Smith,  but  this  firm  was  dissolved 
about  twelve  years  later. 

As  opportunities  were  offered  for  investment  in  outside 
properties  Mr.  Joyce  became  interested  in  many  important 
business  enterprises.  He  was,  at  the  close  of  his  career,  a 
stockholder  in  twelve  different  sawmill  plants  located  in  all 
sections  of  the  country,  one  within  eighteen  miles  of  Lake 
Superior  at  the  North  and  another  within  eighty  miles  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  South,  while  still  another  was  on  Puget 
Sound.  His  mills  at  and  opposite  Lyons  cut  30,000,000  feet  of 
lumber  a  year  and  gave  employment  to  about  three  hundred 
men.  He  had  large  investments,  also,  in  pine  land  in  Minne- 
sota, Wisconsin  and  Texas.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
and  at  his  death  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lyons, 
which  was  one  of  the  first  chartered  under  the  national  bank- 


DAVID  JOYCE  167 

ing  law.  He  projected  and  was  one  of  the  principal  owners 
of  the  street  railway  running  through  the  cities  of  Lyons  and 
CUnton. 

He  had  the  gift  of  industry  and  economy,  but  it  was  not  by 
the  exercise  of  these  traits  exclusively  that  Mr.  Joyce  attained 
his  position  in  the  commercial  world.     Few  men  showed  more 
shrewdness  than  he  or  a  clearer  comprehension  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  industry.     Reinvestment  of  profits  gave  him  the 
ownership  of  several  plants,  until  he  had  twelve  sawmills  in  all 
and   became   an  enormous  producer  of  boards,  sash,  doors, 
blinds  and  other   forms   of  lumber,  which  he  marketed   in 
various  local  lumber  yards  scattered  through  Iowa.     Among 
his  many  enterprises  was  the  Trinity  County  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Groveton,  Texas,  one  of  the  largest  institutions  in 
eastern  Texas  in  the  longleaf  pine  belt,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent; he  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Barronett  Lumber 
Company,  of  Barronett,  Wisconsin  ;  secretary  and  manager  of 
the  Shell  Lake  Lumber  Company,  of  Shell  Lake,  Wisconsin; 
a  heavy  stockholder  in  the  White  River  Lumber  Company,  of 
Mason,  Wisconsin;  a  director  of  the  Mississippi  River  Log- 
ging Company,  of  CHnton,  Iowa ;  president  of  theXangford 
&  Hall  Lumber  Company,  of  Fulton,  Illinois,  and  president 
of  the  Benjamin  Machine  Company,  of  South  Evanston,  Illi- 
nois.    He  was  president  also  of  the  Crescent  Springs  Railroad 
Company  and  was  connected  with  the  Park  Hotel,   at  Hot 
Springs,  Arkansas.     This  diversity  of  interests  demanded  care- 
ful oversight  and  skillful   management,  but    the   wonderful 
energy  of  Mr.  Joyce  was  fully  equal  to  all  requirements.     In 
addition  to  his   manufacturing   and   wholesaling  business  he 
was  a  retailer  as  well,  having  a  line  of  prosperous  yards  in 
Iowa.     His  timber  holdings  were  very  extensive  and  formed  a 
substantial  basis  for  his  manufacturing  operations.     It  is  said 
that  he  had  business  interests  in  twenty-two  different  locali- 
ties,  and   his  careful  personal  supervision  of  them  was  well 
known  to  all  acquainted  with  him. 

He  was  prominent  in  pubHc  enterprises  and  contributed 


i68  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

large  amounts  to  various  religious  institutions  and  was  a  sub- 
scriber to  society  and  educational  work. 

Mr.  Joyce  was  a  stanch  Republican,  though  not  a  poli- 
tician in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  that  term.  He  sought  no 
public  office,  but  when  the  mayoralty  of  Lyons  was  pressed 
upon  him,  in  1872,  he  filled  that  position  with  marked  ability 
and  success.  The  confidence  of  the  people  in  his  integrity 
and  in  his  ability  to  manage  the  municipal  affairs  was  well 
shown  in  that  election.  The  city  finances  were  in  a  low  con- 
dition, city  bonds  selling  for  forty-five  cents  on  the  dollar. 
He  was  the  nominee  of  the  business  men  of  Lyons  for  the  office 
and  was  elected  by  a  very  substantial  majority ;  a  second  time 
was  he  nominated  and  was  elected  by  the  entire  vote  of  the 
city,  the  only  vote  not  cast  for  him  being  his  own.  The  con- 
fidence which  the  people  placed  in  him  was  well  justified,  for 
when,  after  four  years,  he  retired,  at  the  end  of  his  second 
term,  the  city's  credit  was  reestablished  and  there  was  suffi- 
cient money  in  the  treasury  to  pay  all  its  obligations  in  full. 

In  1858  Mr.  Joyce  married  Miss  Elizabeth  F.  Thomas,  of 
Leroy,  New  York.  The  couple  is  survived  by  one  son, 
William  T.  Joyce,  who  has  inherited  much  of  his  father's 
ability  and  energy  and  who  promises  to  carry  forward  with 
success  and  distinction  the  vast  enterprises  committed  to  his 
care. 

It  was  while  Mr.  Joyce  was  in  the  North  looking  after  his 
interests,  which  were  affected  by  the  forest  fires  of  the  summer 
of  1904,  that  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  in  Minneapolis. 
He  never  rallied  from  the  blow,  though  for  a  time  it  was 
hoped  that  his  strong  constitution  and  vigorous  will  would 
bring  him  up  from  the  shadow,  but  a  second  stroke  came,  and, 
three  weeks  from  the  time  of  the  first,  he  was  claimed  by 
death. 


\A 


tr\ 


!'•  ^'t  of  by  its  founder,  requires  not  merely  the 

.urance  of  the  pioneer  but,  in  these  days  of 
B..cii  cuciuiitiuial  competition,  a  breadth  of  view  and  mastery 
of  control  that  is,  perhaps,  best  supplied  by  the  man  whose 
natural  abilities  are  amplified  and  clarified  by  the  most 
thorough  training  —  the  intellectual  training  afforded  by  the 
schools  and  the  business  training  afforded  by  practical  experi- 
Not  a  few  of  the  northwestern  pioneers  have  left  their 

and  among  them  was   David 
Joyce,  this  sketch,  William  T.  Joyce, 

of  Chicago,  is  as  striking  a  hgure  in  the  lumber  stry  of 

was  his  father  in  his  time. 

is  the  s 


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He  V. 
industry 

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child.     He  was  educated  in  the  schools 

i  this  training  by  a  course  at  the 

,    Minnesota.    anW    an    academic 

her  ediication  with  a 

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\A/I1-L.IAM    THOMAS    JOVCE 


William  T.  Joyce 


With  the'passing  of  the  older  generation  in  the  white  pine 
industry  of  the  Northwest,  who,  in  many  cases,  left  large 
enterprises  under  way  and  great  plans  uncompleted,  heavy 
responsibilities  fell  upon  their  successors.  To  take  up  the 
direction  of  a  great  and  growing  business,  to  enlarge  its  scope 
and  successfully  to  give  it  a  breadth  and  diversity  of  interests 
perhaps  unthought  of  by  its  founder,  requires  not  merely  the 
courage  and  endurance  of  the  pioneer  but,  in  these  days  of 
keen  commercial  competition,  a  breadth  of  view  and  mastery 
of  control  that  is,  perhaps,  best  supplied  by  the  man  whose 
natural  abilities  are  amplified  and  clarified  by  the  most 
thorough  training  —  the  intellectual  training  afforded  by  the 
schools  and  the  business  training  afforded  by  practical  experi- 
ence. Not  a  few  of  the  northwestern  pioneers  have  left  their 
affairs  in  such  capable  hands,  and  among  them  was  David 
Joyce,  whose  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  William  T.  Joyce, 
of  Chicago,  is  as  striking  a  figure  in  the  lumber  industry  of 
today  as  was  his  father  in  his  time. 

William  Thomas  Joyce  is  the  son  of  the  late  David  Joyce, 
of  Lyons,  Iowa,  and  Elizabeth  F.  (Thomas)  Joyce.  He  comes 
of  old  New  England  Puritan  stock,  and  was  born  January  3, 
i860,  at  Salisbury,  Connecticut.  Though  an  easterner  born 
he  was  reared  in  Iowa,  his  parents  having  taken  up  their  abode 
there  when  he  was  a  child.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools 
at  Lyons,  and  supplemented  this  training  by  a  course  at  the 
Shattuck  School,  Faribault,  Minnesota,  and  an  academic 
training  in  Chicago.  His  father  directed  his  education  with  a 
view  to  having  him  engage  in  the  lumber  business,  the  senior 
Mr.  Joyce  being  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber. 

He  was  well  prepared  to  undergo  a  practical  course  in  the 
industry  upon   his  leaving  college,  in   1880.     He   began  his 


169 


I70  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

career  in  the  office  of  the  sawmill  of  his  father  at  Lyons, 
remaining  in  a  clerical  position  until  he  had  gained  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  basis  of  office  methods  and  financing.  The  next 
step  in  his  training  was  in  the  practical  side  of  the  manufac- 
turing business.  Young  Joyce  was  sent  into  the  woods  that 
he  might  study  logging  operations  and  woods  work  generally, 
and  so  equip  himself  to  direct  such  affairs  if  it  should  become 
necessary.  Next  he  was  placed  in  a  retail  yard  that  he  might 
learn  something  of  the  consuming  trade  and  how  it  was  catered 
to.  When  he  had  mastered  the  details  of  these  several  ends 
of  the  business  he  was  sent  out  on  the  road  as  a  salesman.  To 
the  credit  of  the  care  exercised  in  his  training,  Mr.  Joyce 
developed  into  a  broad-minded,  resourceful  man,  ambitious 
and  determined.  When  David  Joyce,  respected  and  admired 
by  hundreds  of  lumbermen,  was  called  from  this  life,  Decem- 
ber 4,  1904,  William  T.  Joyce  was  capable  of  taking  over  his 
immense  interests  and  managing  them  in  a  creditable  manner. 
Even  before  his  father's  death,  Mr.  Joyce  had  assumed  prac- 
tical and  intelligent  command  of  the  diversified  interests  of  the 
family,  extending  into  many  states  and  lumber  fields. 

Among  the  lumber  interests  of  Mr.  Joyce  in  the  North  is 
the  Joyce  Lumber  Company,  operating  mills  at  Clinton,  Iowa; 
the  W.  T.  Joyce  Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago,  operating  a 
line  of  retail  yards  in  western  Iowa;  the  Itasca  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  an  Illinois  corporation 
operating  a  mill  at  Minneapolis;  the  Deer  River  Lumber 
Company,  of  Deer  River,  Minnesota;  the  Joyce-Watkins 
Company,  a  wholesale  concern  with  headquarters  at  Chicago; 
the  MinneapoHs  &  Rainy  River  Railway,  extending  from  Bass 
Lake  thirty-five  miles  south  to  Deer  River,  where  connection 
is  made  with  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  which  road  is  used 
as  an  adjunct  to  the  Itasca  Lumber  Company  in  its  operations; 
the  Chippewa  Lumber  &c  Boom  Company;  the  Mississippi 
River  Logging  Company,  and  the  St.  Paul  Boom  Company. 
The  Deer  River  Lumber  Company  is  a  subsidiary  interest  of 
the  Itasca  company  and  manufactures  the  by-products — hard- 


WILLIAM  T.  JOYCE  171 

woods,  principally  —  of  the  latter.  The  Itasca  company  has 
large  holdings  of  timber  and  does  a  general  manufacturing 
and  logging  business. 

Of  the  interests  above  enumerated  Mr.  Joyce  is  president 
of  the  Joyce  Lumber  Company,  the  W.  T.  Joyce  Lumber 
Company,  the  Minneapolis  &  Rainy  River  Railway  Company 
and  the  Joyce-Watkins  Company,  and  the  heaviest  stockholder 
in  the  Itasca  Lumber  Company  and  the  Deer  River  Lumber 
Company.  He  is  a  director  of  the  St.  Paul  Boom  Company 
and  a  stockholder  in  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Chippewa 
Boom  companies.  He  is  one  of  the  owners  and  a  director  of 
the  Manistee  &  Grand  Rapids  Railroad,  which  operates  sixty- 
one  miles  of  road  between  Manistee  and  Dighton,  Michigan, 
and  connects  with  several  other  roads.  With  him  in  this  en- 
terprise are  John  Crocker  and  other  Chicago  capitalists. 

Mr.  Joyce  has  also  large  interests  in  the  yellow  pine  field 
in  the  South.  He  was  the  moving  spirit  in  the  purchase,  in 
1906,  by  Chicago  and  New  Orleans  capitalists  of  the  timber 
holdings  and  plants  of  the  Winn  Parish  Lumber  Company, 
the  South  Arkansas  Lumber  Company  and  the  Tremont 
Lumber  Company.  The  timber  holdings  thus  secured  are 
estimated  at  1,300,000,000  feet,  situated  in  Winn,  Jackson, 
Lincoln,  Ouachita  and  Union  parishes,  Louisiana.  The  mills 
formerly  operated  by  the  Winn  Parish  Lumber  Company  are  at 
Pyburn,  about  two  miles  from  Dodson,  a  station  on  the  Arkan- 
sas Southern  Railroad;  that  of  the  South  Arkansas  Lumber 
Company  is  at  Jonesboro,  Jackson  Parish,  on  the  same  rail- 
road, and  that  of  the  Tremont  Lumber  Company  is  at 
Tremont,  or  Averill  Station,  Lincoln  Parish,  on  the  Vicksburg- 
Shreveport  branch  of  the  Queen  &  Crescent  Route.  The 
plants  of  those  three  concerns  have  a  combined  output  of 
approximately  80,000,000  feet  of  lumber  annually.  Mr.  Joyce 
is  a  director  of  the  Tremont  &  Gulf  Railroad,  which  extends 
fifty  miles  from  Tremont  to  Winnfield. 

Another  company  of  which  Mr.  Joyce  is  president  is  the 
Trinity  County  Lumber  Company,  of  Groveton,  Texas,  which 


172  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

operates  one  of  the  most  modern  sawmills  of  that  section  and 
has  timber  holdings  aggregating  500,000,000  feet  of  yellow 
pine.  Associated  with  him  in  this  enterprise  is  W.  F.  N. 
Davis,  formerly  of  Menominee,  Michigan,  an  expert  timber 
man  and  manufacturer.  Mr.  Joyce  is  president  also  of  the 
Southern  Investment  Company,  and  holds  the  same  executive 
position  in  the  First  National  Bank,  of  Lyons,  Iowa,  the 
Lyons  Savings  Bank  and  in  the  Merchants'  National  Bank,  of 
Clinton,  Iowa.  He  is  interested  as  a  stockholder  in  the  Illinois 
Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  and  the  Corn  Exchange  National 
Bank,  both  of  Chicago ;  the  First  National  Bank  of  Minne- 
apolis, Minneapolis,  Minnesota;  the  Interstate  Trust  &  Bank- 
ing Company,  of  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  and  the  Union 
Bank  &  Trust  Company,  of  Houston,  Texas.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Victoria  Lumber  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Victoria,  British  Columbia,  and  is  president  of  the  Park 
Hotel  Company,  which  owns  and  operates  the  Park  Hotel, 
at  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas. 

In  1897  Mr-  Joyce  established  his  general  headquarters  in 
Chicago,  and  occupies  a  handsomely  furnished  suite  of  offices 
in  the  center  of  the  financial  district  of  the  city.  An  insight 
into  his  domestic  inclination  is  revealed  in  the  decoration  of 
his  office,  the  walls  being  graced  with  portraits  of  his  family 
and  his  homes.  One  of  these  homes  is  the  old  family  residence 
at  Chapinville,  Connecticut,  and  another  is  the  Joyce  mansion 
at  Lyons,  Iowa.     He  has  a  fine  residence  in  Chicago,  also. 

Mr.  Joyce  has  the  happiest  of  domestic  relations,  being 
devoted  to  his  wife  and  two  sons.  His  wife  was  Miss  Clotilde 
Gage,  of  a  well-known  Lyons  family,  whom  he  married  in 
1884.  One  of  the  sons — David  G. — is  about  starting  in  busi- 
ness.    The  other  son — ^James  Stanley — is  attending  Yale. 

The  social  side  of  life  has  some  attraction  for  Mr.  Joyce, 
and  he  holds  membership  in  the  Chicago  Club,  the  Union 
League,  the  Chicago  Athletic  and  the  Chicago  Yacht  clubs 
and  in  the  Midlothian  Country  Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 


Edward  I     ^^K... 


T    'I>^    ^    v>A.«»   t . 


cr. 


Edward  Lazarus  Roberts  was  born  January  3,  1849,  in 
Ruabon,  Wales,  the  son  of  Edward  L.  Roberts  and  Mary  A. 
(Jones)  Roberts. 

Mr.  Roberts  first  engaged  in  the  sash  and  door  business  at 
Davenport,  Iowa,  more  than  thirty  years  ago.  The  city  was 
CO  il  in  size  ired  with  its  magnitude  of 


t 

^.ancial  resources  were  s  ^t 

both  ^  to  reach  the  goal  of 

8urr<»?s. 


Rnhprff?.     For  two  years 

of  the  manu- 

to  he  of 


oi   i^ 
studc 

Two  y<  s  uusmcbb  iuiicu  diwujiv 


8TJ=l3aOR     8URASA_I     a  F«  A  W  a  3 


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w 


EDWARD     LAZARUS     ROBERTS 


Edward  L.  Roberts 


Like  a  host  of  other  substantial  business  men,  Edward  L. 
Roberts  started  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder.  His  capital  when 
he  began  business  consisted  principally  of  youth,  energy  and 
an  ambition  to  make  a  place  for  himself  in  the  world  of  aflfairs. 
From  a  small  beginning  he  has  built  two  of  the  largest  whole- 
sale jobbing  houses  in  the  West.  And  among  those  who  are 
exclusively  jobbers  no  one  will  question  that  Mr.  Roberts  is 
premier. 

Edward  Lazarus  Roberts  was  born  January  3,  1849,  in 
Ruabon,  Wales,  the  son  of  Edward  L.  Roberts  and  Mary  A. 
(Jones)  Roberts. 

Mr.  Roberts  first  engaged  in  the  sash  and  door  business  at 
Davenport,  Iowa,  more  than  thirty  years  ago.  The  city  was 
comparatively  small  in  size  compared  with  its  magnitude  of 
today,  yet  it  offered  an  opening  for  the  business  that  he  estab- 
lished. With  his  brother,  U.  N.  Roberts,  since  deceased,  he 
entered  into  a  partnership  and  began  to  soHcit  the  trade  of  that 
section.  Their  combined  financial  resources  were  small,  but 
both  men  were  fired  with  an  ambition  to  reach  the  goal  of 

success. 

But  Mr.  Roberts  did  not  remain  long  at  Davenport,  as  he 
desired  to  put  forth  his  energy  in  a  broader  and  more  fertile 
field.  Moving  to  Muscatine,  Iowa,  he  entered  the  sawmill 
business,  the  firm  being  Burdick  &  Roberts.  For  two  years 
he  remained  in  Muscatine,  learning  the  details  of  the  manu- 
facture of  lumber  and  gaining  experience  that  was  to  be  of 
lasting  value  to  him  throughout  his  career.  While  he  watched 
the  business  grow  he  also  studied  the  methods  of  distribution 
of  lumber  as  carried  on  in  those  days,  and,  in  fact,  was  a 
student  of  the  lumber  business  as  a  whole. 

Two  years  in  the  manufacturing  business  rolled  around  and 

173 


174  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Mr.  Roberts  found  himself  with  a  desire  to  penetrate  farther 
into  the  West,  whither  the  tide  of  immigration  was  setting  and 
where  greater  and  more  profitable  returns  were  promised. 
Selling  out  his  interest  in  the  firm  of  Burdick  &  Roberts,  at 
Muscatine,  he  started  for  the  Sunflower  State.  He  eventually 
reached  Wakeeney,  Kansas,  where  he  opened  a  retail  yard. 
As  it  was  at  the  height  of  the  boom  period,  this  undertaking 
was  more  or  less  of  an  experiment  for  him.  He  acquired  a 
vast  amount  of  experience  in  conducting  this  retail  business 
that  was  not  without  profit  to  him  in  his  subsequent  under- 
takings. 

From  Kansas  Mr.  Roberts  went  to  Chicago,  and  in  May, 
1880,  he  started  the  first  wholesale  sash  and  door  business  in 
the  city,  and  his  competitors  in  the  trade  were  some  of  the 
largest  manufacturing  jobbers  in  the  country,  houses  with 
unlimited  capital.  Mr.  Roberts  was  a  young  man,  possessed 
of  but  moderate  financial  resources  and  his  failure  was  freely 
predicted  by  more  than  one  lumberman  who  could  not  under- 
stand how  this  beginner  could  succeed  in  a  line  where  compe- 
tition was  keen  to  the  death.  Even  his  brother,  with  whom 
he  had  been  associated  at  Davenport,  advised  against  his 
locating  in  Chicago.  But  E.  L.  Roberts  knew  what  he  wanted 
and  he  had  the  pluck  and  self-confidence  to  carry  out  his 
determination.  He  was  not  a  plunger  and  never  has  been, 
but  has  confined  his  operations  within  the  scope  of  his  capital, 
and  by  so  doing  is  often  enabled  to  take  advantages  that  are 
available  only  to  the  cash  buyer. 

Mr.  Roberts  studied  the  wants  of  the  trade  to  which  he 
catered  and  sought  to  shape  his  stock  of  goods  to  meet  those 
wants.  He  realized  that  the  manufacturing  jobbers  adjusted 
the  products  of  the  factories  they  represented  to  the  demands 
of  their  trade,  and  it  was  only  natural  that  they  should  endeavor 
to  dispose  of  the  products  in  which  they  were  directly  inter- 
ested in  preference  to  those  of  any  other  manufacturer.  Mr. 
Roberts'  buying  market  was  not  bound  by  any  particular  fac- 
tory connection,  but  was  restricted  only  by  his  ability  to  com- 


EDWARD  L.  ROBERTS  175 

mand  capital.  Chicago,  then  even  more  than  now,  the  natural 
distributing  center  of  the  great  West,  was  the  center  of  the 
jobbing  industry  and  distributed  goods  in  practically  every 
section  of  the  country,  save  the  eastern  and  New  England 
states.  Villages,  towns,  cities  that  sprung  from  the  bosom  of 
the  broad  prairies  almost  in  a  day  kept  the  carpenter  and  con- 
tractor busy,  while  the  architect  lingered  behind  to  plan  the 
mansions  of  the  older  East.  Those  were  the  days  when  stock 
goods  ruled  ;  the  home  of  the  pioneer  did  not  call  for  original 
designs  nor  ornate  finish;  the  retail  dealer  bought  doors  and 
sash  in  straight  carloads,  and  sold  both  his  town  and  farmer 
customers  from  stock  carried  in  his  own  yard.  The  wholesale 
factory  made  no  pretense  of  manufacturing  anything  but  regu- 
lar stock,  and  that  was  about  all  the  wholesaler  sold. 

Varied  by  the  changing  currents  of  trade  as  have  been  the 
conditions  in  recent  years,  Mr.  Roberts  has  been  able  to  com- 
bat them  all  successfully.  The  field  of  disposition  for  regular 
stock  has  been  curtailed  because  the  average  home  builder  of 
today  wants  something  different  from  his  neighbor,  and  the 
architect  is  called  upon  to  furnish  it.  The  wholesale  jobber 
by  no  means  has  been  eliminated,  though  in  some  instances  he 
has  become  a  manufacturer  of  special  work,  or,  perhaps,  the 
sales  medium  of  a  manufacturing  institution  producing  both 
special  and  stock  goods ;  in  other  cases  he  has  remained  in  the 
jobbing  business  exclusively,  buying  both  regular  and  stock 
goods  where  they  can  be  obtained  to  the  best  advantage.  Yet 
through  it  all  the  wholesale  handling  of  sash  and  doors  has  re- 
mained a  distinctive  branch  of  the  industry. 

In  his  business  the  methods  followed  by  Mr.  Roberts  have 
ever  been  those  of  the  merchant.  Although  there  is  nothing 
of  aggression  in  either  his  manner  or  appearance,  his  commer- 
cial policy  has  been  decidedly  in  that  direction.  A  close 
student  of  business  conditions  and  their  particular  effect  on 
the  sash  and  door  trade;  a  shrewd  buyer  and  one  who  could 
drive  a  sharp  bargain  on  occasion,  yet  against  whom  there  has 
never  been  a  charge  of  dishonest  or  disreputable  methods;  a 


176  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

man  of  broad  mind  and  sterling  character  in  private  life,  he 
fittingly  illustrates  the  better  type  of  the  American  business 
man.  Worldly  success  has  not  changed  his  kindly  nature  in 
the  least ;  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  he  enjoys  wealth  for  the 
comforts  that  it  brings  to  himself  and  family,  but  money  is  not 
a  god  that  he  worships,  nor  a  master  that  claims  him  as  its 
servant. 

During  his  entire  career  Mr.  Roberts  has  shown  the 
faculty  of  surrounding  himself  with  assistants  who  were  in  per- 
fect accord  with  the  management,  and  much  of  his  success  is 
undoubtedly  due  to  this  fact.  Several  years  ago,  when  the 
business  had  become  too  large  to  allow  of  one  man  giving  his 
personal  attention  to  all  the  details,  William  L.  Sharp  was 
taken  into  partnership  and  the  firm  became  E.  L.  Roberts  & 
Co.  Since  that  time  Mr.  Sharp  has  relieved  Mr.  Roberts  in 
many  ways,  acting  in  the  capacity  of  executive  officer. 

Mr.  Roberts  has  never  been  addicted  to  side  issues  in  busi- 
ness, though  for  several  years  he  has  held  an  interest  in 
McGregor  Bros.  &  Co.,  of  Granite  Falls,  Minnesota,  a  firm 
operating  several  retail  yards  in  that  neighborhood.  To  this 
business,  however,  he  gives  little  personal  attention. 

Mr.  Roberts  married  Miss  Nellie  Roraback,  a  daughter  of 
Isaac  Roraback,  of  South  Bend,  Indiana,  in  1873.  Five 
children  have  been  born  to  the  couple — Hugh,  Rhoda,  Kath- 
arine, Ruth  and  Edward  L.  Roberts,  Junior.  The  handsome 
home  of  the  family  is  at  Tracy,  west  of  Morgan  Park,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Roberts  has  at  times  taken  much  interest  in  poHtics 
and  his  name  was  once  prominently  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  nomination  for  mayor  of  Chicago.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Union  League  Club,  a  former  director  of  the  Hamilton 
Club,  a  member  of  the  Ridge  Country  Club  and  president  of 
the  Thirty-second  Ward  Republican  Club. 


Hci        1    P       eke 


gciy  to  the  prosperity  and  sta- 
in every  line  of  commerce  and  in 

abtfal  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  success  in  other  ciimcs,  own  industry 
gained  positions  of  eminence  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 
Of  this  type  of  citizen  is  Herman  Paepcke,  of  Chicago,  Illinois. 
As  the  head  of  six  large  corporations  doing  an  enormous 
volume  of  business,  he  is  a  prominent  figure  in  the  lumber 
trade  and  an  example  of  what  intelligently  directed  effort  can 
accomplish.  Besides,  he  is  a  stalwart  American  in  sympathy 
and  IP  '  ,  ,iit\i- 

,  Germany,  Feb- 
ru  "^   obtained   in   the 

ex  '^^r^nts  lived    h"t  hii 

vie  V.J  ■'  ^^'"  *t 

Wisma  " 

a  studeiii  < 

for  i.  '- 

dt 

Paepcke  '  a 

of  Indianc  ''* 

was  in  the   v  cf 

products  of  Tc  »n  ihii 
trade,  but  his  acti' 


HERMAN     PAEPCKE: 


Herman    Paepcke 


America  has  been  the  Mecca  of  millions  of  ambitious 
young  men  who  have  left  their  homes  in  other  countries  to 
come  to  the  New  World  in  search  of  the  opportunities  that 
await  the  earnest  worker  in  the  United  States.  This  element 
of  the  population  has  added  largely  to  the  prosperity  and  sta- 
bility of  this  country,  and  in  every  line  of  commerce  and  in 
the  professions  are  to  be  found  men  who,  doubtful  of  the  pos- 
sibiHty  of  success  in  other  climes,  have  by  their  own  industry 
gained  positions  of  eminence  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 
Of  this  type  of  citizen  is  Herman  Paepcke,  of  Chicago,  Illinois. 

As  the  head  of  six  large  corporations  doing  an  enormous 
volume  of  business,  he  is  a  prominent  figure  in  the  lumber 
trade  and  an  example  of  what  intelligently  directed  effort  can 
accomplish.  Besides,  he  is  a  stalwart  American  in  sympathy 
and  in  practice  and  a  strong  supporter  of  the  country's  institu- 
tions and  government. 

Mr.  Paepcke  was  born  in  Mecklenburg,  Germany,  Feb- 
ruary 12,  185 1.  His  early  education  was  obtained  in  the 
excellent  schools  in  the  city  where  his  parents  lived,  but  his 
views  were  broadened  by  a  course  finished  at  the  college  at 
Wismar,  in  Mecklenburg.  Even  as  a  young  man  he  had  been 
a  student  of  commerce,  and  as  he  looked  about  him  in  the 
fatherland  he  could  see  nothing  ahead  of  him  but  a  struggle 
for  existence.  The  prospect  was  not  a  pleasing  one,  so  he 
determined  to  seek  in  the  United  States  his  fortune. 

Crossing  the  Atlantic  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  Mr. 
Paepcke  came  to  America  and  chose  the  then  thriving  town 
of  Indianola,  Texas,  in  which  to  cast  his  lot.  His  first  venture 
was  in  the  way  of  shipping  cotton,  wool,  hides  and  other 
products  of  Texas  to  New  York.  He  was  successful  in  this 
trade,  but  his  activities  were  interrupted  when  a  cyclone  swept 

177 


178  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  Texas  Coast,  a  storm  such  as  destroyed  the  city  of  Galves- 
ton in  recent  years,  and  left  death  and  destruction  in  the 
growing  city  of  Indianola.  This  was  in  1875,  and  when,  a  few 
years  later,  another  cyclone  caused  a  further  great  loss  the 
young  shipper,  with  others,  sought  a  different  location. 

It  was  in  1881  that  Mr.  Paepcke  appeared  in  Chicago,  the 
scene  of  his  future  success  in  the  business  world.  He  em- 
barked in  the  planing  mill  and  box  manufacturing  business,  a 
plant  being  started  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Harrison  Street.  For 
four  years  this  plant  was  operated  successfully,  the  business 
being  extended  during  that  time,  and  then  a  new  site  for 
manufacturing  had  to  be  selected,  as  the  property  was  taken 
for  the  Grand  Central  station.  A  new  plant  of  greater  capacity 
than  the  old  one  was  built  at  the  foot  of  Carpenter  Street  and 
the  business  continued  under  the  title  of  H.  Paepcke  &  Co. 
The  growth  of  its  trade  was  remarkable,  and  in  1887  a  retail 
yard  was  opened  in  connection  with  the  planing  mill  and  box 
factory.  In  two  years  the  facilities  of  the  plant  became  too 
limited  and  a  move  was  made  to  the  east  end  of  IlHnois  Street, 
near  the  north  pier.  Later,  Mr.  Paepcke  bought  the  yard  and 
stock  of  the  Peshtigo  Lumber  Company,  at  that  location,  and 
the  business  expanded  rapidly;  but  in  1902,  owing  to  the 
extensive  interests  acquired  in  the  South,  the  wholesale  pine 
yard  was  disposed  of. 

The  formation  and  extension  of  the  business  of  the  Paepcke- 
Leicht  Lumber  Company  is  as  interesting  a  page  in  the  history 
of  commercial  enterprise  as  can  be  found  anywhere.  A  large 
part  of  the  credit  for  the  results  obtained  is  due  to  Mr. 
Paepcke's  management  of  affairs.  He  is  a  believer  in  organ- 
ization and  system,  and  every  detail  of  the  corporations  he 
controls  is  familiar  to  him.  He  is  courteous  to  friend  and 
stranger  alike,  direct  in  his  speech  and  quick  of  decision. 

Mr.  Paepcke's  entire  time  is  given  to  the  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  company,  which,  with  its  correlative  concerns, 
is  the  largest  box  manufacturing  concern  in  the  world,  and  m 
1905  and  1906  was  known  as  the  heaviest  individual  owner  of 


HERMAN  PAEPCKE  179 

Cottonwood  stumpage  in  America.  There  are  six  distinct 
corporations:  The  Paepcke-Leicht  Lumber  Company,  the 
Chicago  Packing  Box  Company,  the  American  Box  Company, 
all  of  Chicago;  the  Chicago  Mill  &  Lumber  Company,  of 
Cairo,  lUinois;  the  Marked  Tree  Lumber  Company,  of 
Marked  Tree,  Arkansas,  and  the  Cairo,  Memphis  &  Southern 
Railroad  &  Transportation  Company,  operating  a  line  of 
steamers  and  barges  on  the  Mississippi.  Four  extensive  box- 
making  plants  are  operated  and  the  raw  material,  chiefly  Cot- 
tonwood and  red  gum,  is  obtained  from  seventeen  sawmills, 
several  of  them  owned  by  the  underlying  corporations. 

The  officers  of  the  several  corporations  are:  Paepcke- 
Leicht  Lumber  Company  — H.  Paepcke,  president;  William 
Wilms,  vice  president;  E.  A.  Leicht,  treasurer,  and  J.  P. 
Hankey,  secretary.  Chicago  Packing  Box  Company — H. 
Paepcke,  president;  C.  H.  Limbach,  vice  president  and  treas- 
urer, and  M.  J.  Bosen,  secretary.  Chicago  Mill  &  Lumber 
Company  — H.  Paepcke,  president;  William  Wilms,  vice 
president;  E.  A.  Leicht,  treasurer;  C.  F.  Yegge,  secretary, 
and  S.  Wagner,  assistant  treasurer.  The  other  companies 
have  substantially  the  same  officers. 

With  a  view  to  obtaining  the  best  results  in  the  conduct  of 
the  business  as  a  whole,  and  to  avoid  the  friction  accompany- 
ing the  division  of  responsibility,  Mr.  Paepcke  evolved  the 
scheme  of  an  executive  board.  This  body  is  composed  of 
directors  of  each  corporation  and  represents  each  department, 
Mr.  Paepcke  assuming  the  chairmanship.  At  the  meetings  of 
the  board  the  policy  of  each  company  is  mapped  out  and  a 
satisfactory  arrangement  of  the  workings  of  each  plant  secured. 
The  executive  board  has  its  own  committees,  to  which  are  re- 
ferred all  questions  that  may  come  up  for  determination. 

At  the  American  Box  Company  plant  from  50,000  to 
75,000  feet  of  lumber  is  manufactured  into  boxes  daily  by  a 
force  of  300  men.  At  the  factory  of  the  Chicago  Packing  Box 
Company,  about  125,000  feet  of  lumber  is  cut  up  and  made 
into  boxes  daily,  and  a  stock  of  15,000,000  feet  is  in  pile. 


i8o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

The  largest  and  most  complete  establishment  of  the  enter- 
prise is  that  of  the  Chicago  Mill  &  Lumber  Company,  at 
Cairo,  Illinois,  where  sixty  acres  of  ground  is  occupied  by  the 
plant.  Located  there  is  a  sawmill  with  a  band  and  a  band 
resaw  with  a  capacity  of  about  85,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day. 
The  box  factory  has  a  capacity  of  seven  cars  of  shooks  each 
day,  and  veneers  are  manufactured  for  egg  cases,  furniture 
work  and  drawer  bottoms.  Employment  is  given  to  600  men. 
The  box  factory  of  the  Three  States  Lumber  Company  was 
bought  in  1900.  Fifteen  auxiliary  mills  in  Missouri,  Missis- 
sippi and  Arkansas  act  as  feeders  to  the  four  factories  in  Chi- 
cago and  Cairo,  and  nearly  all  these  mills  are  sawing  on  timber 
owned  by  the  company.  In  1906  the  Chicago  Mill  &  Lumber 
Company  erected  a  double  band  sawmill  at  Chickasawba, 
Arkansas,  having  a  capacity  of  100,000  feet  a  day  of  ten  hours. 
It  adds  largely  to  the  company's  facilities  which,  in  1906,  were 
capable  of  producing  about  500,000  feet  a  day. 

In  addition  to  these  interests  the  Paepcke-Leicht  Lumber 
Company  controls  the  Cairo,  Memphis  &  Southern  Railroad 
&  Transportation  Company,  which  operates  117  miles  of 
standard  gauge  railroad  and  a  line  of  steamers,  tow  boats  and 
barges  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  and  their  tributaries. 

Through  his  frequent  trips  to  Europe  Mr.  Paepcke  is 
familiar  with  the  export  trade,  which  forms  a  large  part  of  the 
business  of  the  Paepcke-Leicht  Lumber  Company.  The  for- 
eign department  handles  considerable  cottonwood  and  other 
hardwoods  through  the  Chicago  headquarters,  though  a 
southern  office  is  maintained  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Paepcke  married  Miss  Paula  Wagner,  of  Indianola, 
Texas,  July  27,  1878.  Four  children  —  three  girls  and  one 
boy — have  come  of  this  union.  The  eldest  daughter,  Sophie, 
is  the  wife  of  Professor  Alexander  Pflueger,  of  the  University 
of  Bonn,  Germany.  Another  daughter,  Lydia,  is  the  wife  of 
William  Wilms,  of  the  Paepcke-Leicht  company.  The  family 
occupies  a  beautiful  home  in  Glencoe,  a  suburb  of  Chicago. 


\r 


cy  of 

The  trade  is  j- 

ior  attractions  over  all 

-,  in  the  second,  and, 

ding  generations,  of 

men  who  hewed  their  fortunes  from  the  forest.     Charles  A. 

Goodyear,  of  Chicago,  IlHnois,  is  one  of  those  whose  ancestors 

for  four  generations  were  lumbermen. 

The  first  of  the  Goodyear  family  in  America  was  Stephen 
Goodyear,  a  London  merchant,  who  associated  himself  with 
other  merchants  in  chartering  the  ship  Hector,  which  sailed 
from  E"'^^'^nd  in  1637  and  whose  passengers  founded  the  col- 
— '     -^  iT.,,.^o    ;n  what  is  now  Connecticut.     Stephen 

V  >.^n;r,,.nt  men  of  his  day  and  took  a 

irs  of  the  colony,  serving  as 

uum  his  death,  in   1658.     Of  the 

A  or  Goodyear,  the  records  give  a 

n;  gleaned  from  them  to  establish 

the  '     '     '  ^-    W^''      -  ■      .d- 

cr  >3- 

rd 

,    DC- 
IC 

near 

Carlisle,  oncd  nnals 

appear  to  -  >n  of  land. 

Charles  o,  is  the  great-great- 

great-grandson,  in  c  \  Goodyear,  the  New 

j=IA3VaOOO     SMAQA     a3-JHAHO 


CHARL_E:S     ADAMS     GOODYEIAR 


Charles  A.  Goodyear 


Of  the  hundreds  of  men  who  are  today  successfully  follow- 
ing the  lumber  business,  many  of  them,  perhaps  a  majority  of 
them,  are  descendants  of  lumbermen.  The  trade  is  conspicu- 
ously one  that  appears  to  ofTer  superior  attractions  over  all 
other  commercial  lines  to  the  descendants,  in  the  second,  and, 
in  many  instances,  the  third  and  succeeding  generations,  of 
men  who  hewed  their  fortunes  from  the  forest.  Charles  A. 
Goodyear,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  is  one  of  those  whose  ancestors 
for  four  generations  were  lumbermen. 

The  first  of  the  Goodyear  family  in  America  was  Stephen 
Goodyear,  a  London  merchant,  who  associated  himself  with 
other  merchants  in  chartering  the  ship  Hector^  which  sailed 
from  England  in  1637  and  whose  passengers  founded  the  col- 
ony of  New  Haven,  in  what  is  now  Connecticut.  Stephen 
Goodyear  was  one  of  the  eminent  men  of  his  day  and  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  civic  aflfairs  of  the  colony,  serving  as 
deputy  governor  from  1643  until  his  death,  in  1658.  Of  the 
ancestry  of  Deputy  Governor  Goodyear,  the  records  give  a 
meager  account,  but  enough  is  gleaned  from  them  to  estabUsh 
the  fact  that  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  William  Good- 
ere,  who  was  knighted  by  James  I,  at  Whitehall,  July  23,  1603. 
The  earliest  ancestor  of  which  there  is  record  was  Richard 
Goodere,  Lord  of  Poynton,  in  Cheshire,  who  died,  it  is  be- 
lieved, while  on  an  expedition  with  King  Edward  I,  in  1307. 
The  King  was  preparing  to  invade  Scotland  at  the  time  and  it 
is  inferred  that  Lord  Poynton  was  a  member  of  his  forces. 
Richard,  the  son,  built  a  house  at  Monckinge  Hadley,  near 
Carlisle,  and  all  of  the  Gooderes  mentioned  in  the  early  annals 
appear  to  have  originated  in  that  section  of  Cumberland. 

Charles  Adams  Goodyear,  of  Chicago,  is  the  great-great- 
great-grandson,  in  direct  line,  of  Stephen  Goodyear,  the  New 

181 


i82  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Haven  colonist.  He  is  one  of  those  to  whom  the  lumber 
business  comes  by  inheritance,  and  the  fact  that  he  is  so  well 
qualified  and  so  uniformly  successful  in  his  chosen  occupa- 
tion is  attributable  to  his  forbears  on  both  sides  of  the  house 
who  were  lumbermen.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Charles  C. 
Waterhouse  was  a  lumberman  of  Havana,  New  York,  and  after- 
ward engaged  in  the  California  lumber  trade  with  headquarters 
at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  shipping  lumber  around  the  Horn 
during  the  gold  fever  years,  between  1849  and  1852.  Two 
younger  members  of  the  Goodyear  family  are  today  among 
the  heaviest  operators  in  the  trade,  Charles  Waterhouse  Good- 
year and  Frank  Henry  Goodyear,  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  who 
comprise  the  widely  known  firm  of  F.  H.  &  C.  W.  Good- 
year, owning,  besides  large  lumber  and  railroad  interests  in 
Pennsylvania,  some  of  the  most  extensive  tracts  of  timber  and 
manufacturing  interests  in  yellow  pine  in  the  southern  states. 
One  of  the  noted  members  of  the  family  was  Charles  Good- 
year, the  celebrated  inventor  of  vulcanized  rubber,  who  died 
in  i860,  and  who  in  his  three-score  years  accomplished  won- 
derful results  in  the  advancement  of  science  and  commerce. 
Darius  Adams  Goodyear,  father  of  Charles  A.  Goodyear, 
married  Mary  Ann  Waterhouse  on  May  25,  1848.  Two  years 
before  that  he  engaged  with  his  future  wife's  father,  C.  C. 
Waterhouse,  in  the  lumber  business  in  Brooklyn.  The  son 
was  born  to  the  couple,  September  22,  1849.  The  family 
remained  in  Brooklyn  until  1858,  when  the  senior  Mr.  Good- 
year sold  his  interests  and  moved  to  Portage,  Wisconsin, 
where  he  again  embarked  in  the  lumber  business,  the  firm 
being  Mann  &  Goodyear.  Young  Goodyear  was  educated 
in  Portage  and  graduated  from  the  high  school  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  years.  When  out  of  school  he  entered  the  business  of 
his  father,  and,  though  but  a  youth,  he  quickly  familiarized 
himself  with  its  details.  Mann  &  Goodyear  floated  lumber 
down  the  Wisconsin  River  to  Portage,  from  which  point  it 
was  distributed  to  yards  of  their  own  and  to  various  dealers 
along  the  Mississippi  River. 


CHARLES  A.  GOODYEAR  183 

In  1876  Mr.  Goodyear's  father  took  him  into  partnership, 
the  firm  becoming  D.  A.  &  C.  A.  Goodyear,  the  center  of 
their  operations  then  being  at  Mather,  Wisconsin.  In  1883 
the  yard  and  office  were  moved  to  Tomah,  where,  in  1888,  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  modern  sawmills  in  the  Northwest 
was  built.  The  mill  has  been  remodeled  several  times  and  its 
present  equipment  comprises  two  bands  and  a  band  resaw, 
with  a  daily  capacity  of  100,000  feet.  At  the  outset  the  firm 
owned  timber  adjacent  to  Tomah,  but  as  this  was  cut  out 
other  acreage  was  bought  in  the  northern  part  of  Wisconsin 
and  the  logs  brought  to  the  mill  by  rail,  a  haul  of  200  miles, 
in  some  instances.  In  1906  the  supply  of  logs  came  from 
Vilas  County,  where  the  company  owns  a  tract  of  35,000,000 
feet  of  pine.  When  that  timber  is  cut  out  the  operations  will 
be  started  on  a  tract  of  approximately  300,000,000  feet  in 
Gogebic  County,  Michigan.  Mr.  Goodyear  bought  the 
latter  property  in  1905  and  has  further  provided  for  his  manu- 
facturing operations  by  securing  about  1,000,000,000  feet  of 
fir,  spruce  and  cedar  on  Puget  Sound,  Washington. 

Mr.  Goodyear  bought  the  interest  of  his  father  in  the  firm 
of  D.  A.  &  C.  A.  Goodyear,  at  Tomah,  in  1899,  and  continu- 
ed the  business  under  his  own  name  until  January  i,  1906, 
when  it  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Wisconsin  as  the 
C.  A.  Goodyear  Lumber  Company,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000. 
The  officers  are  Charles  A.  Goodyear,  president;  Lamont 
Rowlands,  vice  president  and  general  manager,  and  Miles  A. 
Goodyear,  secretary.     D.  A.  Goodyear  died  August  20,  1905. 

Mr.  Goodyear  married  Miss  Fannie  Stewart,  daughter  of 
Judge  Alva  Stewart,  of  Portage,  Wisconsin,  September  11, 
1872.  Five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  were  born 
to  the  couple.  Miles  A.  Goodyear,  the  surviving  son,  is 
secretary  of  the  C.  A.  Goodyear  company.  Charles  McPher- 
son  Goodyear,  another  son,  died  in  1895.  ^^^  o^  ^he  daugh- 
ters, Ellen  Josephine,  is  the  wife  of  Lamont  Rowlands,  vice 
president  and  general  manager  of  the  Goodyear  company, 
and  the  other  one,  Mary  Belle,  is  the  wife  of   George  C. 


i84  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Hodges,  of  Chicago.  Alva  Stewart  Goodyear,  Mr.  Good- 
year's  oldest  son,  who  had  risen  to  the  position  of  manager  of 
the  operations  of  the  concern  at  Tomah,  died  May  13,  1904, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  years.  He  served  as  acting  captain 
of  Company  K,  Third  Wisconsin  Regiment,  during  the  Span- 
ish-American War,  and  during  the  campaign  in  Porto  Rico  he 
contracted  malarial  fever,  which  was  primarily  responsible  for 
his  death  five  years  later.  To  add  to  Mr.  Goodyear's  grief, 
Mrs.  Goodyear,  who  had  been  ill  for  several  months  previous 
to  Alva's  death,  suffered  such  a  shock  that  she,  too,  suc- 
cumbed, her  death  occurring  twelve  days  after  that  of  her  son. 

Although  Mr.  Goodyear  always  has  been  a  consistent  sup- 
porter of  the  policies  of  the  Republican  party,  he  never  has 
sought  nor  has  he  held  public  office.  At  one  time  he  was 
nominated  for  Congress,  but  withdrew.  At  another  time  he 
was  nominated  for  the  Wisconsin  State  Senate,  but  declined 
the  honor.  Mr.  Goodyear  is  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Union  League  Club  and  the  Ken- 
wood Club,  of  Chicago.  In  1903  he  built  a  handsome  resi- 
dence at  4840  Greenwood  Avenue,  Chicago.  The  architec- 
ture is  of  early  English  style.  Valuable  assistance  in  formulat- 
ing the  plans  was  given  by  Mrs.  Rowlands,  and  many  of  the 
attractive  features  of  the  home  are  due  to  her  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  old  English  country  houses. 

Mr.  Goodyear  possesses  democratic  manners  and  has 
never  been  accused  of  regarding  himself  as  being  in  any  sense 
above  the  common  level  of  humanity.  Having  led  a  busy  life 
and  in  his  youth  encountered  hardships  and  endured  priva- 
tions in  the  endeavor  to  establish  a  business,  he  is  prone  to 
carry  himself,  in  years  of  maturity  and  affluence,  as  simply  and 
as  far  removed  from  ostentation  as  any  of  his  several  hundred 
employees.  Frills  of  any  sort  are  not  to  his  liking  and  he 
cordially  detests  many  of  the  so-called  regulations  of  a  social 
order  with  which  he  neither  sympathizes  nor  affiliates.  None 
the  less  does  he  conduct  himself  at  all  times  as  becoming  one 
who  is  the  descendant  of  generations  of  gentlemen. 


Williar-i  W.  Schultz 


r*»n   ^  arns 

■  most 
-s.     Such  a 


-  IV. 


V^^    ^«,  \_/   4 


.,,.    ..  of  Alsacc- 

,  iiav.wg  been  born  in  ^^...cttstadt  in  1827.  He  im- 
iiii^iaicd  to  the  United  States  in  1845  and  settled  in  western 
New  York,  near  Rochester,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  for 
a  short  period  and  then  in  the  building  and  contracting  busi- 
ness. He  married,  in  1850,  Catherine  McArthur,  and  William 
W.  Schultz  was  one  of  four  sons  born  of  this  union.  The  lad 
IS  reared  in  Rochester,  where  he  received  his  education  in 

hing  with  a  course  in  the  academy  at 


the  aj^c  ui 


the  study  of  civil  engineering, 

aural  fondness,  but,  having  a  severe 

forced  to  drop  his  studies  and  secure 

Hex  i 

\.  McArthur,  were  & 

'  in  K 


was 
he    cruised 

helping  on  the  drives 
nseful  at  all 


Tn 


•  SA   ft  A  *  ft.- 


-  and  L 

:T_JUH03     aRANA/     MAI_J-JI\A/ 


9 


1 


r 


\A/ll_l_IAM     WARD     SCHULTZ 


William  W.  Schultz 


No  better  foundation  for  a  life  work  can  be  laid  than  the 
study  of  an  industry  from  its  beginning;  and  he  who  learns 
thoroughly  the  rudiments  of  his  occupation  becomes  the  most 
efficient  and  is,  therefore,  the  most  likely  of  success.  Such  a 
man  is  William  Ward  Schultz,  of  Chicago,  Illinois. 

He  was  born  August  15,  1851,  at  Rochester,  New  York. 
His  father,  Xavier  George  Schultz,  was  a  native  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  having  been  born  in  Schlettstadt  in  1827.  He  im- 
migrated to  the  United  States  in  1845  and  settled  in  western 
New  York,  near  Rochester,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  for 
a  short  period  and  then  in  the  building  and  contracting  busi- 
ness. He  married,  in  1850,  Catherine  McArthur,  and  William 
W.  Schultz  was  one  of  four  sons  born  of  this  union.  The  lad 
was  reared  in  Rochester,  where  he  received  his  education  in 
the  public  schools,  finishing  with  a  course  in  the  academy  at 
the  age  of  nineteen. 

Young  Schultz  had  taken  up  the  study  of  civil  engineering, 
for  which  he  showed  a  natural  fondness,  but,  having  a  severe 
attack  of  asthma,  he  was  forced  to  drop  his  studies  and  secure 
open  air  employment  at  once.  He  went  to  the  pine  woods  of 
Michigan,  where  his  uncles,  W.  and  A.  McArthur,  were  then, 
as  now,  engaged  extensively  in  lumber  manufacturing.  Secur- 
ing a  position  with  McArthur,  Smith  &  Co.,  under  which 
style  the  business  was  conducted,  he  started  in  to  learn  the 
manufacture  of  lumber.  During  his  first  season  he  was  em- 
ployed in  scaling  logs,  the  following  summer  he  cruised 
timber,  and  for  several  years  divided  about  half  of  each  year 
between  these  two  occupations,  besides  helping  on  the  drives 
during  the  spring  and  making  himself  generally  useful  at  all 
times.  In  1873  McArthur,  Smith  &  Co.  started  a  wholesale 
lumber   yard   at  Twenty-second  and  Laflin  streets,  Chicago, 


185 


i86  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  in  the  following  year  Mr.  Schultz  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  business,  conducting  it  in  the  capacity  of  manager  until 
the  spring  of  1883,  when  McArthur,  Smith  &  Co.,  retired 
from  the  Chicago  market. 

The  firm  of  Crandall,  Schultz  &  Co.  was  organized  May  i, 
1883,  by  James  N.  Crandall,  William  W.  Schultz  and  R.  B. 
Miller,  and  a  wholesale  yard  was  established  at  Thirty-fifth 
Street  and  Centre  Avenue,  Chicago.  The  business  was  prose- 
cuted actively  during  the  ensuing  seven  years,  the  first  year  its 
handlings  amounting  to  about  8,000,000  feet,  and  the  volume 
of  its  transactions  steadily  grew  until  during  the  last  four  years 
of  its  existence  the  sales  averaged  more  than  25,000,000  feet 
annually.  In  1890  Mr.  Miller  retired  from  the  firm  and  the 
two  remaining  partners  conducted  the  business  with  equally 
good  success  until  May  i,  1894. 

In  1890  Mr.  Schultz,  with  several  others,  organized  the 
lUinois  &  Wisconsin  Lumber  Company,  of  Merrill,  Wisconsin. 
A  sawmill  at  Merrill  and  a  tract  of  timber  adjacent  to  the  site 
were  bought  and  operations  carried  on  actively  for  several 
years.  In  1896  Mr.  Schultz  sold  his  interest  in  the  mill  and 
timber  to  C.  B.  Flinn,  the  mill  having  sawed  in  the  five  years 
preceding  about  150,000,000  feet. 

The  wholesale  firm  of  Schultz  Bros,  was  organized  in  Chi- 
cago in  1892  by  James  N.  and  Alexander  J.  Schultz.  W.  W. 
Schultz  was  admitted  as  a  partner  in  1894,  after  he  had  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  in  Crandall,  Schultz  &  Co.  Schultz  Bros, 
did  a  steadily  increasing  business  during  several  years  until  the 
results  of  the  panic  of  1893  were  more  clearly  developed.  In 
December,  1896,  through  the  failures  of  several  concerns 
owing  the  firm  large  amounts  of  money,  a  temporary  suspen- 
sion of  the  business  was  deemed  advisable.  To  the  credit  of 
W.  W.  Schultz  and  his  brothers,  in  less  than  thirty  days  the 
firm  again  was  in  active  operation,  and,  within  a  few  months, 
without  legal  obligation  but  with  a  full  appreciation  of  its 
moral  obligation,  had  paid  every  debt  in  full. 

The  firm  has  steadily  increased  its  volume  of  business  as 


WILLIAM  W.  SCHULTZ  187 

well  as  its  scope  in  the  lumber  field  and  it  is  now  a  large  and 
increasingly  important  factor  in  the  wholesale  trade  of  the 
country.  One  of  its  principal  departments  is  that  of  long 
piling  for  foundations,  in  which  line  it  may  be  said  to  outrank 
any  concern  in  the  country.  One  of  the  first  and  most  im- 
portant contracts  obtained  by  the  firm  for  piHng  was  in  1897, 
when  between  5,000  and  6,000  pieces  of  fifty-foot  piling  for  the 
Federal  Building  in  Chicago  were  furnished.  Other  houses 
in  the  same  line  had  declined  the  business,  but  Mr.  Schultz 
completed  the  contract  satisfactorily,  having  discovered  a 
forest  of  norway  trees  of  unusual  quality  and  size  in  northern 
Wisconsin.  The  firm  also  held  a  contract  extending  over 
three  years  for  100,000  pieces  of  piling  from  forty-five  to  sev- 
enty-five feet  in  length,  which  was  completed  recently. 
Schultz  Bros,  are  getting  out  piling  in  eleven  states  and  in 
Canada  and  their  market  embraces  the  entire  eastern  half  of 
the  country. 

While  the  business  of  Schultz  Bros,  was  originally  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  northern  pine,  it  gradually  shifted  during 
succeeding  years  to  southern  pine,  and  in  October,  1902, 
Charles  D.  Benedict  was  admitted  to  the  firm  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  charge  of  the  yellow  pine  department,  and  a  separate 
partnership,  Schultz  Bros.  &  Benedict,  was  formed.  In  1904 
750,000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine  was  handled  by  the  concern. 
Also  in  that  year  a  cypress  department  was  organized  and  since 
then  many  millions  of  feet  have  been  handled.  Schultz  Bros, 
have  been  extensively  engaged  in  the  maple  flooring  business, 
also.  In  1900  the  Kerry  &  Schultz  Manufacturing  Company 
was  organized  at  Bay  City,  Michigan.  Operations  were  car- 
ried on  there  for  a  year  and  a  half  until  the  mill  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  when  the  company,  in  September,  1901,  bought  the 
old  sawmill  and  site  of  the  A.  W.  Wright  Lumber  Company, 
at  Saginaw,  Michigan.  The  mill  plant  was  rebuilt  into  a 
flooring  factory  and  operated  actively  until  the  spring  of  1905, 
when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  In  January,  1905,  a  poplar  and 
hardwood   department   was   started,  in  charge   of  James  C. 


i88  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Cowen.  In  June  of  1906  Mr.  Benedict  withdrew  from  Schultz 
Bros.  &  Benedict  and  that  firm  was  succeeded  by  Schultz 
Bros.  &  Cowen. 

With  ail  these  various  and  diversified  interests  Mr.  Schultz 
keeps  in  close  touch,  but  gives  his  personal  attention  mainly 
to  the  piling  department.  The  great  success  scored  by  that 
branch  of  the  business  has  been  largely  due  to  his  indefatigable 
energy  and  competent  direction. 

Not  only  has  Mr.  Schultz  been  prominent  as  a  lumberman 
in  the  Chicago  market  for  thirty-two  years,  but  he  has  been 
prominent  among  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  wonder- 
ful increase  in  importance  of  that  market,  having  been  for 
many  years  interested  in  the  various  lumber  organizations 
which  have  contributed  to  the  standing  of  the  lumber  trade 
and  the  growth  of  the  city,  and  also  actively  identified  with 
them.  For  seven  years  he  was  a  director  of  the  Lumbermen's 
Exchange,  and  became  a  director  of  the  Lumbermen's  Asso- 
ciation of  Chicago  when  it  was  organized.  He  served  a  term 
as  vice  president  and  in  1891  was  elected  president,  serving  so 
well  in  that  capacity  that  he  was  reelected  for  another  term  in 
1892.  During  his  first  term  his  office  was  one  of  unusual  re- 
sponsibility, owing  to  its  being  the  first  time  for  many  years  that 
all  the  lumbermen  of  the  city  had  been  gathered  into  a  single 
organization. 

Mr.  Schultz  married  Miss  Lizzie  E.  Leavitt,  a  daughter  of 
Jerome  A.  Leavitt,  at  Cheboygan,  Michigan,  November  i, 
1876.  One  son  has  been  born  to  the  couple— Jerome  A. 
Schultz,  who  is  in  the  insurance  business  in  Chicago  and  dis- 
plays much  of  the  energy  and  capability  of  his  father.  Mr. 
Schultz  is  fond  of  home  life  and  has  an  especial  liking  for 
literature,  spending  much  of  his  time  in  his  library  at  home. 


Ed        i   E.  Moberlv 


^  y  in 

'  its 

es 

v 

-.     -  ..or 

.^.  He  did  not  begin  the  manufacture  of  cypress  as  a 
....  .ce,  for  in  his  long  experience  as  a  lumberman  in  the  met- 
ropolitan field  he  became  thoroughly  conversant  with  southern 
lumber  of  every  description,  and  with  southern  life  and 
methods  as  well.  For  years  he  was  heavily  interested  in  the 
production  and  sale  of  yellow  pine  lumber  before  he  turned 
his  attention  to  its  companion  wood  —  cypress. 

Edward   Everett   Moberly  was  born  at  Duquoin,   Perry 

C'  "         s  October  20,  1859.     His  father  was  John  H. 

N^'  '  er  Hester  J.  Moberly.     He  was  edu- 

•  m  )1  at  Duquoin  and  later  took  up  a 

e,  at  Upper  Alton,  Illinois.     Imme- 

ege  in   1880  he  began  his  business 

,  where  he  secured  a  position  in 

I  retail  lumber  firm  of  Street, 

C  \e  present  firm  of  Street, 

r,  though 


responsi- 

.   he 

f   in 

9  of 

He 

ncss, 

d  him- 

bent  up   ..   . 

...  in  order 

that  he  rr;  ^  t  a  businesi  of  his  own,  to 

which  laudablr  .^d.     At  the  time  that  Street, 


'9 
Y-IFiaaOM     TT3H3V3     Q  SR  A  W  Q  3 


ED 


WARD     EVERETT     MOBERLV 


Edward  E.  Moberly 


With  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  cypress  industry  in 
comparatively  recent  years,  many  have  been  drawn  into  its 
manufacture  who  had  previously  gained  success  in  other  lines 
of  the  lumber  business.  One  of  the  men  to  enter  the  industry 
recently  and  almost  immediately  to  become  an  important  factor 
in  the  production  of  this  wood  is  E.  E.  Moberly,  of  Chicago, 
Illinois.  He  did  not  begin  the  manufacture  of  cypress  as  a 
novice,  for  in  his  long  experience  as  a  lumberman  in  the  met- 
ropolitan field  he  became  thoroughly  conversant  with  southern 
lumber  of  every  description,  and  with  southern  life  and 
methods  as  well.  For  years  he  was  heavily  interested  in  the 
production  and  sale  of  yellow  pine  lumber  before  he  turned 
his  attention  to  its  companion  wood  —  cypress. 

Edward  Everett  Moberly  was  born  at  Duquoin,  Perry 
County,  Illinois,  October  20,  1859.  His  father  was  John  H. 
Moberly  and  his  mother  Hester  J.  Moberly.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  school  at  Duquoin  and  later  took  up  a 
course  at  Shurtleff  College,  at  Upper  Alton,  Illinois.  Imme- 
diately upon  leaving  college  in  1880  he  began  his  business 
career  by  going  to  Chicago,  where  he  secured  a  position  in 
the  office  of  the  wholesale  and  retail  lumber  firm  of  Street, 
Chatfield  &  Keep,  predecessors  of  the  present  firm  of  Street, 
Chatfield  &  Co.  His  first  work  was  as  a  bookkeeper,  though 
it  was  not  long  before  he  was  given  more  important  responsi- 
bilities, and  during  the  ten  years  he  was  with  the  firm  he 
acquired  a  valuable  practical  experience  in  the  details  of 
handling  and  shipping  lumber  in  the  Chicago  market.  He 
developed  a  liking  for  the  lumber  business,  and  applied  him- 
self assiduously  to  the  duties  incumbent  upon  him  in  order 
that  he  might  qualify  to  conduct  a  business  of  his  own,  to 
which  laudable  ambition  he  aspired.     At  the  time  that  Street, 

189 


190  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Chatfield  &  Keep  closed  out  their  Twenty-second  Street  yard 
Mr.  Moberly  opened  a  lumber  commission  office  on  his  own 
account,  embarking  in  the  trade  of  white  pine,  in  1890,  with 
his  father-in-law,  C.  H.  Blair,  under  the  firm  name  of  C.  H. 
Blair  &  Co. 

The  jobber  of  lumber,  at  the  time  Mr.  Moberly  opened 
his  office,  was  considered  an  unimportant  factor  in  the  trade  of 
Chicago,  where  business  was  largely  done  direct  from  exten- 
sive and  well-stocked  yards,  then  regarded  as  a  necessary 
adjunct  to  the  proper  transaction  of  a  lumber  business.  Mr. 
Moberly  was  convinced  that  it  would  be  possible  to  do  a 
profitable  trade  in  direct  shipments  from  the  mills,  a  proposi- 
tion which  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate;  and,  as  a  result  of 
that  demonstration,  he  became  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  now 
influential  colony  of  office  lumbermen  in  the  downtown  dis- 
trict of  Chicago.  The  limited  competition  and  the  oppor- 
tunities for  profit  in  this  line  were  greater  in  those  days  than 
they  now  are,  and  the  business  of  C.  H.  Blair  &  Co.  grew  and 
prospered  under  the  capable  management  of  the  young  lum- 
berman. Mr.  Moberly  continued  actively  in  the  wholesale 
lumber  business  from  1890  until  1903,  meanwhile,  in  1893, 
changing  the  name  of  the  firm  to  E.  E.  Moberly  &  Co. 

While  carrying  on  a  wholesale  business  the  decreasing 
supply  of  white  pine  gradually  diverted  Mr.  Moberly's  atten- 
tion to  the  yellow  pine  field,  and  in  the  later  years  of  his 
activity  in  Chicago  he  directed  his  efforts  chiefly  to  southern 
products.  While  thus  engaged  he  organized  and  financed 
the  H.  M.  Nixon  Lumber  Company  for  the  purpose  of  oper- 
ating in  hardwoods.  Closing  out  all  his  other  wholesale  inter- 
ests in  1903,  Mr.  Moberly  aided  in  the  organization  of  the 
Anguera  Lumber  Company,  which  conducts  a  wholesale 
yellow  pine  and  hardwood  business,  with  offices  in  the  Mo- 
nadnock  Building,  Chicago,  and  of  which  concern  he  became 
vice  president  and  the  principal  stockholder. 

While  operating  in  yellow  pine  lumber  Mr.  Moberly 
studied  the  field  closely  and  recognized  the  possibilities  of 


EDWARD  E.  MOBERLY  191 

manufacturing  in  that  line,  and  in  1898  he  bought  a  one-half 
interest  in  the  Amos  Kent  Lumber  &  Brick  Company,  Lim- 
ited, of  Kentwood,  Louisiana.  This  company  at  that  time  was 
a  comparatively  small  institution,  operating  a  mill  of  limited 
capacity  and  backed  by  meager  timber  holdings.  The  manu- 
facturing facihties  and  timber  resources  of  the  company  were 
largely  expanded,  and  when  the  company  disposed  of  its 
holdings  in  March,  1906,  it  had  accumulated  stumpage  to  the 
extent  of  250,000,000  feet,  and  timber  lands  comprising  an 
area  of  23,000  acres,  besides  a  modern  mill  plant. 

Late  in  1905  Mr.  Moberly,  in  company  with  J.  N.  Cum- 
mings,  formerly  secretary  of  the  Louisiana  Cypress  Company, 
Limited,  of  Harvey,  Louisiana,  and  an  old  time  Chicago  lum- 
berman, organized  the  Cummings  &  Moberly  Cypress  Com- 
pany, with  a  paid  in  capital  of  $125,000.  Mr.  Moberly  is 
president  of  the  company  and  Mr.  Cummings  secretary- 
treasurer  and  general  manager.  The  company  owns  an  ex- 
tensive tract  of  cypress  land  in  St.  Charles  Parish,  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Louisiana.  At  Taft,  a  new  settlement  located 
on  the  Texas  &  Pacific  Railway,  over  which  the  product  of 
the  mill  finds  an  outlet,  has  been  built  a  modern  sawmill  plant, 
planing  mill,  dry  kilns  and  all  accessories  of  a  well  organized  and 
efficient  manufacturing  plant  for  catering  to  northern  markets, 
and  a  logging  road  furnishes  the  supply  of  logs  for  the  mill. 
The  mill  is  of  a  band  type  with  a  capacity  of  60,000  feet  a  day. 
Neither  pains  nor  expense  was  spared  by  Mr.  Moberly  or  his 
associates  in  making  the  Cummings  &  Moberly  Cypress  Com- 
pany one  of  the  most  effective  manufacturing  institutions  in 
the  cypress  belt,  special  attention  having  been  paid  to  the 
utilization  of  methods  that  have  proved,  by  long  practical 
experience,  to  be  conducive  to  economy  of  manufacture  and 
excellence  of  production.  The  plant  is  supplemented  with 
some  of  the  most  improved  labor  saving  mechanical  devices 
that  the  inventive  genius  of  the  day  has  as  yet  been  able  to 
produce.  The  logs  are  loaded  on  cars  in  the  woods  by  steam 
skidders  and  delivered  directly  into  the  log  pond  at  the  mill, 


192  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  mechanical  contrivances  of  the  latest  pattern  handle  them 
and  their  product  through  each  stage  of  the  operation  up  to 
the  putting  in  pile  of  lumber,  lath  and  shingles  in  the  mill 

yard. 

Mr.  Moberly  is  still  a  young  man,  energetic,  strong  of 
purpose  and  resourceful  in  methods.  He  has  earned  the  con- 
fidence of  those  with  whom  he  has  had  business  dealings,  and 
has  commanded  the  respect  of  his  confreres.  But,  best  of  all, 
there  are  no  rankHng  resentments,  due  to  unfair  methods,  to 
be  overcome,  no  hostile  sentiments  to  be  placated.  He  is 
plain  speaking,  fair  minded  and  honorable  with  all  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact.  To  no  man  in  the  lumber  trade  is 
tendered  a  greater  measure  of  unselfish  good  wishes  by  his 
fellows  for  his  continued  prosperity;  and  this  fact  tells  more 
forcibly  than  could  any  words  of  the  character  of  his  dealings 

with  others. 

Mr.  Moberly  married  Miss  Jennie  Blair,  a  daughter  of 
Charles  H.  Blair,  of  Chicago,  who  later  became  his  partner, 
April  28,  1886.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moberly  reside  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  in  a  beautiful  home  in  Chicago  and 
spend  the  summer  months  on  the  New  England  Coast.  They 
have  four  children  — a  son  and  three  daughters. 


^ 


f 


if 


m 


W' 


of 


uent  of  an  ass 
:  semi-public  character  with  which  he  n 
d.    John  William   Embree,  of  Chicago,  Illinois, 
cnt  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  wholesale  con- 
;  West,  served  with  unusual  ability  his  fellow  lum- 
bermen of  his  adopted  city  in  a  crisis  and  displayed  excellent 
judgment,  fearlessness  and  determination  in  defending  his  own 
rights  and  the  rights  of  others. 

The  Embree  family  is  descended  from  French  Huguenots, 
thousands  of  whom  came  to  America  from  France  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century  to  gain  religious  freedom.  Among  them 
,...,.  .  f^..,,K.  ^f  ^'^ibrees  who  were  Quakers  and  who  picked 

e  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia.     A  succeeding 
^  '     the  sparsely  settled  Muskingum  River 

^*        -.-   r-    Ohio,  and  took  up 

t  William  Embree, 
1  and  there  that  he 


a  m 


■T 


t 
Strait; 

villc.     Until 

nbrce  never  had 

seen  a  railroad. 

worked  for  a  year  in 

a  company  store 

ng  concern,  when  the 

family  again  moved, 

.a,  Kansas.    John  W. 

335=iaM3 

MAUJIlM/ 

MHOL 

JOHN     WILLIAM     EMBREZE 


John  W.  Embree 


When  a  man  exhibits  rare  executive  force  in  the  conduct  of 
an  extensive  business  he  can  generally  be  relied  upon  to  dis- 
play a  similar  strength  in  the  management  of  an  association  or 
any  other  affair  of  a  semi-public  character  with  which  he  may 
be  intrusted.  John  William  Embree,  of  Chicago,  Illinois, 
vice  president  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  wholesale  con- 
cerns in  the  West,  served  with  unusual  ability  his  fellow  lum- 
bermen of  his  adopted  city  in  a  crisis  and  displayed  excellent 
judgment,  fearlessness  and  determination  in  defending  his  own 
rights  and  the  rights  of  others. 

The  Embree  family  is  descended  from  French  Huguenots, 
thousands  of  whom  came  to  America  from  France  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century  to  gain  religious  freedom.  Among  them 
was  a  family  of  Embrees  who  were  Quakers  and  who  picked 
out  an  abiding  place  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia.  A  succeeding 
generation  moved  to  the  sparsely  settled  Muskingum  River 
Valley,  near  Pennsville,  Morgan  County,  Ohio,  and  took  up 
agriculture  as  a  vocation.  It  was  there  that  William  Embree, 
father  of  John  William  Embree,  was  born  and  there  that  he 
married  Mary  Jane  Dunn,  the  daughter  of  a  minister.  John 
William  Embree  was  born  to  this  couple  at  Pennsville,  Novem- 
ber 15,  i860. 

What  education  the  boy  was  able  to  obtain  was  secured  in 
the  village  school  before  he  was  thirteen  years  old.  At  this 
tender  age  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  general  store  at  Pennsville, 
where  he  remained  three  years,  until  the  family  moved  to  New 
Straitsville,  Perry  County,  about  twenty  miles  from  Penns- 
ville. Until  he  reached  this  place  young  Embree  never  had 
seen  a  railroad.  At  New  Straitsville  he  worked  for  a  year  in 
a  company  store  operated  by  a  coal  mining  concern,  when  the 
family  again  moved,  locating  at  Topeka,  Kansas.     John  W. 

193 


194  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Embree's  commercial  training  was  such  as  to  enable  him  to 
enter  one  of  the  large  business  houses  of  Topeka,  where  his 
faithful  services  earned  for  him  advancement  in  responsibility 
and  increased  salary. 

Mr.  Embree's  entrance  into  the  lumber  field,  in  which  he 
has  attained  considerable  distinction,  was  in  January,  1884. 
His  cousin,  the  late  Jesse  R.  Embree,  had,  in  May,  1883, 
started  in  the  lumber  trade  with  M.  F.  Rittenhouse  in  Chi- 
cago. Correspondence  passed  between  the  cousins  and  John 
Embree  was  solicited  to  go  to  the  western  metropolis  and  learn 
the  lumber  business  under  the  tutelage  of  his  cousin.  He 
considered  the  matter  carefully  because  it  meant  to  him  a 
sacrifice  in  salary  and  the  abandonment  of  a  purely  mercan- 
tile career. 

His  decision  to  accept  his  relative's  offer  was  hastened, 
however,  by  the  advice  of  a  physician,  who  announced  that 
the  young  man's  health  would  be  benefited  by  a  position 
where  he  could  be  in  the  open  air  most  of  the  time.  So,  in 
January,  1884,  he  left  Topeka  for  Chicago  and  entered  the 
employ  of  Rittenhouse  &  Embree  at  a  salary  of  $40  a  month. 
His  first  work  was  tallying  lumber  in  the  yard  of  the  firm,  and 
gradually  he  became  thoroughly  familiar  with  grading  and  in- 
specting. A  year  spent  in  the  yard  was  sufficient  to  qualify 
him  for  assuming  the  position  of  city  salesman  and  in  the  two 
years  he  followed  this  line  of  activity  he  gained  a  wide 
acquaintance  with  the  personnel  of  the  retail  trade  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  consumers.  The  ability  he 
had  demonstrated  all  along  led  to  his  being  given  full  charge 
of  the  selHng  end  of  the  business  and  of  the  supervision  of 
credits  in  1887. 

Upon  the  incorporation  of  the  Rittenhouse  &  Embree 
Company  in  May,  1892,  M.  F.  Rittenhouse  became  president, 
Jesse  R.  Embree,  vice  president  and  John  W.  Embree,  secre- 
tary, the  latter  holding  a  one-fifth  interest  in  the  corporation. 
Two  years  later  Jesse  R.  Embree  sold  his  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness to  the  other  partners  and  Mr.  Rittenhouse  then  became 


JOHN  W.  EMBREE  195 

president  and  treasurer  and  John  W.  Embree  vice  president 
and  secretary.  During  the  last  twelve  years  the  company,  in 
which  Mr.  Embree  takes  an  active  and  important  part,  has 
come  into  the  front  rank  of  the  Chicago  trade,  not  only  in  the 
volume  of  business  transacted,  but  as  a  representative  house  as 
well. 

Outside  of  the  wholesale  and  retail  business  carried  on, 
Mr.  Embree  and  his  partner  have  extensive  interests  in  lum- 
ber operations  in  the  North  and  South.  One  of  the  oper- 
ations in  which  Mr.  Embree  is  interested  is  the  Arkansas 
Lumber  Company,  manufacturer  of  yellow  pine,  at  Warren, 
Bradley  County,  Arkansas.  The  plant  is  one  of  the  best 
equipped  and  largest  in  the  South,  with  a  capacity  of  150,000 
feet  of  lumber  a  day.  The  company  owns  approximately 
700,000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine  and  hardwood  timber,  short- 
leaf  pine  forming  the  greater  percentage  of  these  holdings. 
Little  of  the  output  of  this  company  is  sold  in  the  Chicago 
market,  the  larger  portion  of  the  sales  being  made  in  territory 
tributary  to  St.  Louis.  Mr.  Embree  is  vice  president  of  the 
Arkansas  Lumber  Company. 

Mr.  Embree  is  president  of  the  Chandler  Lumber  Com- 
pany, which  concern  was  organized  following  the  purchase, 
in  October,  1902,  by  Mr.  Embree  and  Mr.  Rittenhouse,  of  the 
Dean  interests  in  the  Central  Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago. 
The  Chandler  company  does  an  exclusively  retail  business  and 
handles  about  30,000,000  feet  of  lumber  a  year.  Another 
retail  lumber  company  of  which  Mr.  Embree  is  president  is 
the  Sixty-third  Street  Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago,  which 
was  organized  in  1904  to  operate  a  retail  yard  at  Sixty-third 
and  La  Salle  streets.  This  yard  has  a  large  trade  with  the  con- 
tracting and  building  interests  of  the  South  Side  section  of 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Embree's  executive  ability  was  given  a  severe  test  in 
1905,  in  which  year  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Lumber- 
men's Association  of  Chicago.  When  he  took  the  office  the 
association  was  confronted  by  the  most  unusual  situation  in 


196  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

regard  to  labor  it  had  ever  known.  The  hundreds  of  teamsters 
in  the  employ  of  the  various  lumber  yards  of  the  city  were  on 
a  sympathetic  strike  and  Mr.  Embree,  as  president  of  the 
association  was  placed  in  a  most  trying  position  in  conserving 
the  interests  of  the  lumbermen.  With  the  support  of  the  asso- 
ciation members  he  proceeded  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos  and 
was  successful  in  bringing  the  strike  to  a  close  with  satisfaction 
to  both  sides.  All  the  way  through  he  demonstrated  strength, 
endurance,  power  to  originate  and  the  executive  ability  to 
carry  plans  to  their  fruition.  He  neglected  no  detail  either  in 
association  matters  or  of  private  interests,  and  his  administra- 
tion of  both  was  exceptional. 

Mr.  Embree's  home  life  is  a  happy  one.  He  married 
Miss  Carrie  A.  Stevens,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  H.  Stevens,  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  December  i,  1888. 
Of  this  union  one  son  has  been  born — ^John  WilHam  Embree 
II,  who  is  now  in  his  eighth  year. 

Mr.  Embree  was  born  with  an  incentive  to  work.  In  his 
case  it  has  developed  all  the  better  qualities  of  the  man,  made 
him  a  master  of  himself  and  equipped  him  to  become  a  ruler 
over  many.  He  started  his  commercial  career  at  the  bottom, 
worked  zealously  at  whatever  was  before  him  and  steadily 
widened  his  sphere  of  usefulness  as  he  climbed  toward  the  goal 
of  success.  In  doing  so  he  sought  neither  honors  nor  prefer- 
ment, merely  endeavoring  to  do  his  duty  to  the  best  of  his 
ability;  but  preferment  came  to  him  unsolicited  and  honors 
have  been  extended  to  him  without  stint. 


v^ 


I  V4   1  tA  V    *:    I- A  I    \^  . 


The  same  ...... ^v.vv\,  ..«,v   .^v.i  brought  into  play,  the  same 

energy  has  been  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  the  end 
desired.  In  brief,  the  kind  of  a  man  qualified  to  reach  the 
goal  in  one  department  of  the  business  is  the  man  who  inevi- 
tably would  have  secured  a  success  in  the  other.  If  anything, 
however,  it  has  required  a  greater  amount  of  labor  to  earn  a 
reward  in  the  retail  business.  The  profits  arc  not  as  large  and 
petition  appears  in  a  greater  nu-  d  with 

j  pro 


hern.. ^^\J<  t3    i/'^o 


Michigan.     iTi 


oun, 


JOHN     EDMUND     BURNS 


John   E.   Burns 


While,  perhaps,  the  greater  number  of  successes,  from  a 
financial  standpoint,  in  connection  with  the  lumber  industry 
have  been  men  who  have  chosen  the  manufacturing  end  of 
the  business  as  the  field  of  their  operations,  there  have  been  a 
number  of  substantial  fortunes  made  in  the  retail  ranks.  As 
a  rule  it  has  taken  longer,  but  success  has  followed  endeavor 
just  as  surely  in  the  retailing  of  lumber  as  in  its  manufacture. 
The  same  attributes  have  been  brought  into  play,  the  same 
energy  has  been  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  the  end 
desired.  In  brief,  the  kind  of  a  man  qualified  to  reach  the 
goal  in  one  department  of  the  business  is  the  man  who  inevi- 
tably would  have  secured  a  success  in  the  other.  If  anything, 
however,  it  has  required  a  greater  amount  of  labor  to  earn  a 
reward  in  the  retail  business.  The  profits  are  not  as  large  and 
competition  appears  in  a  greater  number  of  guises  and  with 
more  insistence.  Therefore,  it  appears  that  to  attain  promi- 
nence in  the  retail  trade  is  more  difficult  than  is  the  case  when 
engaged  in  the  larger  field  of  manufacturing  operations. 

An  example  of  rapid  and  permanent  advancement  in  the 
business  of  retailing  lumber  is  afforded  by  a  perusal  of  the  his- 
tory of  John  Edmund  Burns,  president  of  the  John  E.  Burns 
Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  Mr.  Burns  says  that 
no  one  ever  put  a  dollar  into  his  pocket  when  he  was  not 
looking,  but  that  he  has  had  to  work  for  every  penny  he  pos- 
sesses ;  nevertheless,  it  does  not  seem  to  have  soured  his  dis- 
position and  he  has  no  regrets. 

John  Edmund  Burns  was  born  at  Natick,  Massachusetts, 
March  20,  1867,  and  was  the  child  of  Lawrence  and  Ellen 
Burns,  the  former  a  native  of  Ireland  and  the  latter,  who  before 
her  marriage  was  Ellen  Dalton,  having  been  born  in  Detroit, 
Michigan.     Young  Burns  did  not  have  an  inherited  predilec- 

197 


198  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tion  for  the  lumber  business,  his  father  having  been  a  whole- 
sale grocer  at  Natick.  John  Burns  had  no  liking  for  the 
grocery  business.  He  graduated  from  the  grammar  school  at 
Natick,  attended  the  high  school,  and,  after  leaving  that  insti- 
tution, spent  over  a  year  at  Comer's  Commercial  College,  in 
Boston.  When  he  left  college  young  Burns  returned  to 
Natick  and  entered  the  employ  of  W.  D.  Parlin,  a  hardware 
dealer  of  that  city.  He  was  then  about  sixteen  years  of  age, 
and  was  practically  dependent  upon  his  own  resources,  his 
father  having  died  when  he  was  about  seven  years  of  age. 
Mr.  Burns  remained  in  the  hardware  store  about  a  year  and  a 
half  and  then  migrated  west  to  Chicago,  reaching  that  city  in 
1884.  Here  he  held  several  positions  for  brief  periods  and 
then  connected  himself  with  McCauley  &  Elliott,  real  estate 
dealers,  with  whom  he  remained  in  the  capacity  of  book- 
keeper for  four  or  five  years. 

In  1894  Mr.  Burns  made  his  first  venture  in  the  lumber 
business,  the  scene  of  his  operations  being  at  Lowell,  Indiana, 
where  he  purchased  the  yard  of  the  Lowell  Lumber  Company, 
and  engaged  in  the  retailing  of  lumber  for  three  years.  At 
the  end  of  that  period— to  be  specific,  in  1897— Mr.  Burns, 
wishing  to  give  more  scope  to  his  energy,  sold  out  his  Lowell 
yard  to  the  Wilbur  Lumber  Company  and  returned  to  Chi- 
cago. Here  he  incorporated  the  John  E.  Burns  Lumber 
Company  and  started  in  business  at  Halsted  and  Kingsley 
streets,  that  city,  having  bought  out  Albert  Russell,  an  old 
time  Chicago  lumberman,  who  since  has  passed  away.  This 
business  he  conducted  for  about  two  years.  The  John  E. 
Burns  Lumber  Company  of  1897-9,  while  operated  under  the 
same  caption,  was  not  the  John  E.  Burns  Lumber  Company 
of  the  present  day,  however.  It  was  a  modest  business,  run- 
ning in  sales  from  $5,000  to  $8,000  a  month.  The  present 
headquarters  of  the  company  at  40  West  Chicago  Avenue  were 
secured  November  15,  1899;  but  Mr.  Burns  continued  to 
run  the  old  Russell  yard  until  February  of  1906,  when  the 
property  was  disposed  of  and  the  yard  was  permanently  closed. 


JOHN  E.  BURNS  199 

In  addition  to  the  big  lumber  yard  at  40  West  Chicago 
Avenue,  the  John  E.  Burns  Lumber  Company  operates  the 
Morton  Grove  Lumber  Company,  at  Morton  grove,  Illinois, 
and  the  North  Side  Lumber  &  Timber  Company,  at  Lincoln 
Avenue  and  Grace  Street,  Chicago,  the  latter  having  been 
conducted  since  1893. 

Thus  in  about  nine  years  John  Edmund  Burns  has  been 
able  to  build  up  in  Chicago  one  of  the  most  successful  and 
extensive  retail  lumber  operations  in  that  city.  The  company 
now  does  a  business  aggregating  considerably  over  $1,000,000 
a  year,  although  it  is  capitalized  at  only  $100,000,  and  is  well 
known  to  all  lumbermen  of  Chicago  and  the  middle  West. 

The  officers  of  the  present  organization  are  John  E.  Burns, 
president  and  general  manager;  Frank  J.  Burns,  secretary; 
Albert  P.  Hawley,  treasurer.  Frank  J.  Kronmaker  is  manager 
of  the  North  Side  yard.  In  the  two  yards  there  are  employed 
about  sixty  men.  At  the  Chicago  Avenue  yard  fourteen 
double  teams  and  eighteen  single  teams  are  constantly  em- 
ployed in  delivering  the  lumber,  while  at  the  North  Side  yard 
four  double  teams  and  six  single  are  correspondingly  busy. 

The  John  E.  Burns  Lumber  Company  enjoys  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  the  most  centrally  located  of  any  of  the  large 
retail  lumber  distributing  yards  in  Chicago.  It  is  less  than  a 
mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  City  Hall,  on  an  air  line,  and  it  is 
probably  this  proximity  to  the  central  life  of  the  city  which 
has  caused  the  company's  lumber  to  be  employed  in  a  greater 
variety  of  uses  than  that  of  any  other  lumber-handling  concern 
in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Burns  says  that  he  is  too  busy  to  devote  any  time  to 
society  or  travel  and  very  little  to  recreation,  yet  he  speaks  of 
trips  to  Milwaukee,  Lowell  and  other  points  in  his  big  Erocar 
and  his  eyes  light  up  as  he  talks  of  struggles  with  the  game 
denizens  of  lake  and  stream.  And  as  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  Club,  the  Edgewater  Golf  Club,  the  Knights  of 
Columbus  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  his  modest  disclaimer  to 
social  prominence  can  not  be  allowed. 


200  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Mr.  Burns  married  Agnes  Hines,  sister  of  Edward  Hines, 
of  the  Edward  Hines  Lumber  Company,  Chicago,  on  January 
23,  1894.  Three  children  have  been  born  to  them — Dalton 
Frances  Burns,  nine  years  old;  Dorothy  L.  Burns,  six  years 
old,  and  Ruth,  the  baby,  four  years  old— and  all  are  sturdy 
and  healthy.  Mr.  Burns'  three-story  residence  is  at  1676 
Kenmore  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Entering  the  office  of  the  Burns  Lumber  Company,  one  is 
not  at  all  in  doubt  as  to  its  head,  but  there  is  nothing  of  blus- 
tering domination  in  Mr.  Burns'  makeup.  His  voice  is  low 
pitched  and  he  extends  the  same  courtesy  he  exacts.  It  is  a 
policy  which  bears  unmistakable  evidence  of  being  a  paying 
one,  for  the  office  machinery  of  the  company  runs  noiselessly 
and  without  friction. 

Mr.  Burns  is  a  Catholic  in  religion  and  belongs  to  St. 
Mary's  of  the  Lake  Church.  He  is  a  type  of  the  courte- 
ous, affable,  modern  American  business  man,  a  type  of  the 
man  who  succeeds. 


Willis    H.  Gilbert 


The  average  man  t 
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prcaccessors. 
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'  get 
full  reward  in  hey  have  done,  and  sometimes 

the  risks  they  take  prevent  large  success,  but,  in  any  event, 
they  are  in  the  advance  guard  in  the  industry,  and  so  the  story 
of  what  they  have  accomplished  and  how  they  did  their  work 
is  usually  worth  the  telling.  Of  such  sort  is  Willis  H.  Gilbert, 
now  of  Chicago,  but  whose  chief  work  was,  until  recently, 
done  at  and  around  Ashland,  Wisconsin. 

Willis  H.  Gilbert  is  a  native  of  Syracuse,  New  York,  where 
he  was  born  April  i8,  1855.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left 
hijrh  school  in  to  make  a  connection  with  a  large  busi- 

•npH  fnr  nine  years,  during 

^raining.     In 

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Willis   H.  Gilbert 


The  average  man  travels  a  beaten  path  or,  if  he  go  beyond 
where  the  path  is  plainly  blazed,  it  is  in  the  general  Hne  of  his 
predecessors.  Once  in  a  while,  however,  there  appears  a  man 
who  does  new  things,  or  does  the  old  things  in  an  entirely 
different  way  —  a  man  who  appreciates  the  opportunities  which 
others  neglect,  and  in  the  lumber  trade  finds  new  uses  for  old 
woods  or  new  woods  for  old  uses.  Such  men  sometimes  get 
full  reward  in  riches  for  what  they  have  done,  and  sometimes 
the  risks  they  take  prevent  large  success,  but,  in  any  event, 
they  are  in  the  advance  guard  in  the  industry,  and  so  the  story 
of  what  they  have  accomplished  and  how  they  did  their  work 
is  usually  worth  the  telling.  Of  such  sort  is  Willis  H.  Gilbert, 
now  of  Chicago,  but  whose  chief  work  was,  until  recently, 
done  at  and  around  Ashland,  Wisconsin. 

Willis  H.  Gilbert  is  a  native  of  Syracuse,  New  York,  where 
he  was  born  April  i8,  1855.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left 
high  school  in  order  to  make  a  connection  with  a  large  busi- 
ness house,  with  which  he  remained  for  nine  years,  during 
which  time  he  secured  a  thorough  mercantile  training.  In 
addition  to  this,  he  was  associated  with  his  father,  formerly  a 
leading  farmer  of  the  section,  in  several  large  real  estate  trans- 
actions and  in  this  way  acquired  a  fair  command  of  capital. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five  Mr.  Gilbert  left  Syracuse  and 
went  to  Saginaw,  Michigan,  where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business  with  Elijah  Hallenbeck,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Hallenbeck  &  Gilbert.  The  firm  owned  timber  stumpage 
and  bought  logs,  chiefly  hardwood  and  norway,  having  them 
sawed  on  contract  in  Saginaw  and  Bay  City.  This  product, 
however,  did  not  come  into  the  ordinary  trade,  but  was  very 
largely  of  a  special  character.  A  yard  was  maintained  at  Ton- 
awanda,  New  York,  where  was  carried  a  specialized  stock  for 


201 


202  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

railroad  supply,  as  well  as  stock  of  the  usual  assortment  for 
wholesale  pine  and  hardwood  yards. 

By  1897  opportunities  in  the  lumber  business  of  Michigan 
began  to  be  somewhat  circumscribed  by  the  exhaustion  of  the 
timber  supply.  Mr.  Gilbert  looked  about  for  other  fields  and 
visited  Ashland,  Wisconsin,  where  he  made  a  study  of  the 
conditions.  At  that  time  norway  pine,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
average  Ashland  man,  was  norway  pine  —  simply  that  and 
nothing  more.  It  was  a  cheap  product,  something  to  be  hur- 
ried through  the  mill  and  hurried  to  the  market.  It  came 
out  from  the  gang  mill  as  common  bill  stuff,  an  article  which, 
owing  to  the  diversion  of  most  of  the  norway  in  almost  every 
mill  to  this  particular  product,  was  in  large  supply  and  com- 
manded a  low  price.  Mr.  Gilbert  looked  at  the  lumber  piles, 
went  out  and  examined  the  timber  and  his  experience  sug- 
gested to  him  what  he  thought  would  be  a  better  use  for  these 
norway  trees.  He  purchased  15,000,000  feet  of  norway  logs, 
delivered  in  towing  booms  on  Chaquamegon  Bay,  and  then 
contracted  with  a  first-class  band  mill  to  saw  them.  It  soon 
became  an  open  secret  that  he  had  paid  $6  a  thousand  for 
these  logs  and  that  his  towing  and  sawing  bill  would  amount 
to  $2.15  a  thousand  feet.  The  Ashland  lumber  trade  laughed 
quietly  at  the  tenderfoot  from  the  banks  of  the  Saginaw  who 
had  paid  that  amount  for  norway  log  run,  which  would  bring 
on  the  Ashland  market  only  $6.50  to  $y  a  thousand  feet. 

Mr.  Gilbert  kept  his  own  counsel  and  managed  the  task 
which  he  had  undertaken  in  his  own  way.  He  put  an  expert 
man  into  the  woods,  and,  before  an  ax  had  touched  a  tree,  it 
had  been  destined  for  a  particular  purpose.  The  large,  sound, 
coarse  trees  were  cut  into  logs  up  to  sixty  feet  in  length  for 
timber  bills;  the  smaller  logs,  with  sound  knots,  were  cut 
thirty  to  forty  feet  in  length  for  car  sills.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  feet  were  cut  up  for  car  decking  and  telegraph  pole 
arms.  Mr.  Gilbert  then  turned  his  eloquence  and  his  en- 
thusiasm to  the  matter  of  placing  his  specialized  products 
on   the   market.     Soon,   while  various   other   timber  buyers 


WILLIS  H.  GILBERT  203 

were  haggling  indifferently  over  the  price  of  the  norway 
bill  stuff  with  which  the  market  was  flooded,  other  buyers, 
not  accustomed  to  be  seen  in  the  Ashland  market,  found  their 
way  there  to  look  at  what  Mr.  Gilbert  had  to  offer.  They 
came,  they  approved,  they  purchased;  and  the  profits  on  his 
manipulation  of  this  norway  were  soon  seen  to  be  as  great  as  it 
had  been  expected,  by  those  bound  up  to  previous  method  of 
manufacture,  the  losses  would  be. 

Thus  Mr.  Gilbert  built  up  a  magnificent  trade,  varying  his 
operations  by  including  in  them  white  pine.  He  was  known 
in  those  days  as  the  "Norway  King,"  and  what  he  did  for  his 
subjects  was  of  note,  for  more  to  him  than  to  anyone  else,  and, 
perhaps,  to  all  other  men,  was  due  the  greater  recognition  of 
the  merits  of  norway  pine,  enhanced  prices  for  norway  stump- 
age  and  the  better  values  reahzed  for  its  product.  At  one 
time  he  owned  about  500,000,000  feet  of  standing  norway,  as 
well  as  large  quantities  of  other  woods. 

As  his  Wisconsin  operations  became  limited  by  the  lack  of 
timber  supply,  he  turned  his  attention  in  other  directions  and 
purchased  about  500,000,000  feet  of  stumpage  in  the  timber 
districts  of  California,  Oregon  and  Washington.  That  ven- 
ture, however,  was  what  others  were  making,  and,  with  his 
disposition  to  depart  from  precedent,  he  gave  ear  to  a  rumor 
that  reached  him  that  there  were  extensive  timber  limits  on 
the  Bahama  Islands,  which  could  be  purchased  at  a  remark- 
ably low  price  and  on  exceedingly  favorable  terms.  Anything 
new  aroused  Mr.  Gilbert's  curiosity,  and  so  he  went  to  the 
Bahamas,  looked  over  the  islands  casually  and  left  estimators 
to  explore  them  thoroughly.  The  result  was  that  he  bought 
these  limits  which  had  been  going  begging,  and  found  him- 
self in  possession  of  probably  5,000,000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine, 
of  rather  small  average  growth,  but  magnificent  in  its  sound- 
ness and  adaptability  to  structural  and  railway  tie  purposes. 

The  Bahama  group  lies  off  the  coast  of  Florida,  which  it 
approaches  at  the  nearest  point  within  about  seventy-five  miles. 
The  principal  islands  are  Great  Bahama,  Great  Abaco  and  the 


204  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Andros  Islands.  The  latter,  in  particular,  are  heavily  wooded, 
and  the  timber  of  all  the  western  Bahama  Islands  is  similar  to 
that  growing  in  Florida,  but  with  a  heavier  mixture  of  tropical 
species  than  is  found  in  that  State.  This  venture  of  Mr.  Gil- 
bert's was  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  his  conservative 
lumber  contemporaries.  It  was  a  "dream,"  though,  as  his 
dreams  had  always  come  true,  it  might  have  been  assumed 
that  this  one  also  was  prophetic. 

At  about  this  time — 1903  —  through  the  failure  of  a  house 
very  heavily  indebted  to  him,  Mr.  Gilbert's  affairs  became 
somewhat  involved,  but  it  was  realized  that  no  one  could  so 
well  handle  the  situation  as  he  himself  and  so,  under  a  friendly 
arrangement  of  the  creditors,  he  went  about  liquidating  his 
indebtedness,  selling  some  property  and  eventually,  within  less 
than  two  years,  being  on  his  feet  again  in  possession  of  an 
independent  fortune.  During  this  time  it  was  discovered 
that,  with  all  his  enthusiasms  and  his  liking  for  new  things,  he 
had,  after  all,  been  conservative  in  his  judgment  of  timber 
values.  The  estate  as  a  whole  realized  more  than  the  esti- 
mates. Of  it  all,  strangely  enough,  the  most  important  part 
was  that  same  timber  in  the  Bahamas,  bought  for  a  song  and 
so  lightly  regarded  by  the  timber  trade  generally.  Of  this 
property  Mr.  Gilbert  is  the  chief  and  practically  controlling 
owner.  Sawmills  have  been  erected,  railroads  built  into  the 
country,  docks  constructed,  and  manufacture  is  rapidly  being 
engaged  in,  so  that  the  company  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the 
great  producing  timber  companies  tributary  to  the  trade  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Having  curtailed  his  northern  manufacturing  operations, 
Mr.  Gilbert  has  turned  to  account  his  knowledge  of  timber 
values,  the  scope  and  accuracy  of  which  have  been  so  amply 
demonstrated,  and  is  at  the  date  of  this  writing  devoting  part 
of  his  time  to  the  investigation  of  timber  properties,  with  the 
view  to  purchasing  for  himself  and  in  connection  with  his 
associates.  His  operations  are  now  conducted  from  Chicago, 
to  which  city  he  removed  in  September,  1905. 


Love 
the 
C 


iation  with  nature,  nor  n 

n  blunted  his  appreciation  of  her  benefactions. 
He  comes  of  a  distinguished  line  of  ancestry,  the  name  of 
Thrane  being  known  to  every  Scandinavian.  Marcus  Thrane, 
his  grandfather,  accomplished  for  the  Scandinavians  what 
Garibaldi  did  for  his  Italian  compatriots.  He  was  a  member 
of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  aristocratic  families  of  Norway. 
Born  in  1817,  he  was  highly  educated  and  devoted  his  talents 
to  espousing  the  cause  of  reform  in  the  educational,  religious 
and  commer^*  ^^  systems  of  the  land  that  gave  him  birth.  He 
tp u..i  ._:».»:..,    jjy(  j^g  suffered  the  penalty  of 

into  prison,  in  1851,  where  he 

'     i  he  consented, 

)r  of   Norway. 

*  1  poet- 

tlut  ^1 

a^ 


e, 


d 

g'  hris- 

tiania.     \  the  King 

of  Den  their  oath  of  alle- 

3MARHT     FIOTOIV 


VICTOR     THRANE 


Victor  Thrane 


Love  of  nature,  as  typified  by  the  fields,  the  streams  and 
the  woods,  is  compatible  with  the  character  of  a  lumberman. 
Communion  with  the  physical  beauties  of  the  earth  seemingly 
inspires  courage  and  confidence  and  brings  out  all  the  finer 
qualities  of  a  man's  being.  Victor  Thrane,  of  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois, has  enjoyed  this  association  with  nature,  nor  has  com- 
mercialism blunted  his  appreciation  of  her  benefactions. 

He  comes  of  a  distinguished  line  of  ancestry,  the  name  of 
Thrane  being  known  to  every  Scandinavian.  Marcus  Thrane, 
his  grandfather,  accomplished  for  the  Scandinavians  what 
Garibaldi  did  for  his  Italian  compatriots.  He  was  a  member 
of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  aristocratic  families  of  Norway. 
Born  in  1817,  he  was  highly  educated  and  devoted  his  talents 
to  espousing  the  cause  of  reform  in  the  educational,  religious 
and  commercial  systems  of  the  land  that  gave  him  birth.  He 
triumphed  in  his  agitation,  but  he  suflPered  the  penalty  of 
many  patriots  and  was  thrown  into  prison,  in  1851,  where  he 
languished  for  several  years.  It  is  said  that,  had  he  consented, 
his  followers  would  have  named  him  dictator  of  Norway. 
The  name  of  Henrik  Ibsen,  the  famous  Norwegian  poet- 
dramatist,  is  connected  with  that  of  Marcus  Thrane  in  a  story 
that  has  escaped  the  Ibsen  enthusiasts.  The  poet  was  Thrane's 
associate  on  the  Arbeiderforeningernes  Blad^  published  in  Chris- 
tiania,  and,  when  the  newspaper  office  was  searched  and  con- 
fiscated, a  compositor  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  conceal 
Ibsen's  manuscripts  in  his  pocket,  and  to  this  act  was  due  the 
fact  that  the  poet  escaped  the  fate  of  the  patriot.  Another 
distinguished  member  of  the  Thrane  family  was  Paul  Thrane, 
grandfather  of  Marcus  Thrane,  who  was  a  merchant  of  Chris- 
tiania.  He  was  extremely  popular,  and  at  the  time  the  King 
of  Denmark  absolved  the  Norwegians  from  their  oath  of  alle- 


205 


2o6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

giance  and  it  was  proposed  to  elect  Prince  Christian  as  King 
of  Norway,  the  population  was  determined  to  put  Paul  Thrane, 
popularly  known  as  "Old  Paul,"  on  the  throne. 

Victor  Thrane's  father.  Doctor  Arthur  D.  H.  Thrane,  a 
prominent  resident  and  physician  of  Eau  Claire,  Wisconsin, 
received  his  early  education  in  the  cell  of  his  father,  Marcus 
Thrane,  while  the  latter  was  undergoing  political  imprison- 
ment. Though  but  seven  years  old  he  was  taught,  in  addition 
to  his  mother  tongue,  the  French  language,  and  in  later  years 
he  became  a  compositor  in  French,  assisting  in  the  support  of 
his  mother  and  sisters  until  the  expiration  of  his  father's  sen- 
tence, in  1858.  He  migrated  to  America  and,  after  a  short 
stay  in  New  York,  went  to  Chicago  and  took  up  the  study  of 
medicine  at  the  Rush  Medical  College,  from  which  institution 
he  graduated  in  1868.  In  1889  Doctor  Thrane  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Board  of  Health  by  Gover- 
nor W.  D.  Hoard.  It  was  on  March  12,  1868,  that  a  son, 
Victor  Thrane,  was  born  to  Doctor  Thrane  and  his  wife, 
Amalie  Henriette  Marie  (Struck)  Thrane.  In  the  early  '70's 
the  family  moved  to  Eau  Claire,  and  in  the  public  schools  of 
that  city  the  boy  gained  his  mental  training.  In  1885  he  com- 
pleted a  scientific  course  at  St.  John's  University,  at  College- 
ville,  Minnesota,  and  followed  this  with  a  course  at  the  Chi- 
cago Opthalmic  College,  receiving  his  diploma  in  1890. 

As  soon  as  he  was  out  of  college  the  young  man  went  to 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  established  himself  in  the  optical 
business,  but  its  scope  proved  too  narrow  for  one  of  Mr. 
Thrane's  ambitions.  He  was  artistically  inclined  and  the 
optical  business,  while  not  actually  distasteful  to  him,  was  not 
entirely  to  his  liking,  so  he  conceived  the  idea  of  arranging 
and  conducting  a  tour  of  an  artist.  For  two  seasons  he  toured 
Ellen  Beach  Yaw,  the  highest  soprano  in  the  world,  who,  up 
until  that  time,  was  practically  unknown  to  the  concert  goers 
of  the  country.  Not  only  did  he  establish  a  reputation  for  the 
singer,  but  he  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  an  impresario. 
Going  to  New  York,  in  1894,  Mr.  Thrane  interested  himself 


VICTOR  THRANE  207 

in  the  musical  profession  and  in  the  following  seasons  he 
brought  out  or  starred  such  artists  as  Ysaye,  Pugno,  Gerardy, 
Hambourg,  Lachaume,  Verlet,  Marteau,  Petschnikoff,  Sauer, 
Paur,  Maurel,  Elsa  Ruegger  and  lesser  lights  of  the  musical 
world,  besides  forming  and  managing  such  an  organization  as 
the  Paur  Symphony  Orchestra,  of  ninety  musicians.  Among 
the  greatest  artistic  successes  of  his  managerial  career  were  the 
concerts  of  the  quintet  composed  of  Ysaye,  Marteau,  Bendix, 
Gerardy  and  Lachaume,  a  decided  triumph.  From  a  modest 
beginning,  in  1893,  Mr.  Thrane  gained  international  promi- 
nence and  a  reputation  enjoyed  by  but  few  men  in  that  field. 

It  was  with  considerable  regret  that  Mr.  Thrane  decided 
to  sever  his  connection  with  the  concert  world  and  engage  in 
the  timber  land  business.  In  1900  he  became  junior  member 
of  the  firm  of  J.  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  a  concern  whose  name  is 
known  throughout  lumberdom.  He  proved  as  enterprising 
and  capable  in  the  new  connection  as  in  the  business  he 
deserted.  He  displayed  his  executive  ability  in  the  conduct 
of  the  firm's  affairs  and  quickly  assumed  a  leading  part  in  its 
management.  Within  the  last  few  years  the  estimating  and 
cruising  of  timber  lands  has  been  largely  in  Mr.  Thrane's 
hands.  In  1905  the  firm  estimated  practically  5,500,000  acres, 
and  in  the  same  year  did  a  business  in  volume  approximating 
$10,000,000.  With  the  immense  growth  in  the  lumber  indus- 
try on  the  Pacific  Coast  Mr.  Thrane  will  devote  much  of  his 
time  to  looking  after  the  interests  of  the  firm  in  that  section. 

Mr.  Thrane  married  Miss  Lotta  Louise  Lacey,  only  daugh- 
ter of  J.  D.  Lacey,  October  26,  1898,  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrane  make  their  home  in  the 
summer  at  Chicago,  and  in  the  winter  at  New  Orleans,  Loui- 
siana. Their  home  in  the  South  is  most  attractive,  and  the 
artistic  tastes  of  both  are  expressed  in  the  paintings,  library 
and  furnishings.  Mr.  Thrane  has  a  decidedly  catholic  literary 
taste  and  spends  much  of  his  leisure  time  in  reading.  While 
he  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  hobbies,  he  is  fond  of  commun- 
ion with  nature,  and  with  his  gun  and  dogs,  or  rod  and  fly,  or 


2o8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

kodak,  he  finds  health-giving  pleasure.  His  companion  in 
these  pastimes  is  his  wife,  who  enjoys  the  delights  of  open  air 
freedom  with  all  the  zest  of  a  true  sportswoman. 

The  artistic  temperament  of  Mr.  Thrane  was  undoubtedly 
inherited  from  Waldemar  Thrane  (1790- 1828) ,  the  noted  Nor- 
wegian composer  of  dramatic  music,  violinist  and  conductor, 
who  was  Marcus  Thrane's  uncle.  Mr.  Thrane  is  a  vioHnist  of 
some  skill  and  prizes  very  highly  a  Guarnerius,  1734,  instru- 
ment in  his  possession.  Mrs.  Thrane  has  a  fine  soprano  voice, 
and  they  are  frequent  attendants  to  higher  class  theatrical  and 
musical  productions.  Mr.  Thrane's  whole  family  is  musical. 
A  brother,  Marcus,  a  prominent  surgeon  of  Madison,  Minne- 
sota, plays  the  flute;  Robert  Thrane  is  a  'cellist  widely  known 
in  musical  circles,  and  Lucile  Thrane,  a  sister,  is  studying  the 
violin  under  Old  World  masters.  Two  other  sisters  are  Irma, 
wife  of  August  Schmetz,  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  Germany,  an 
excellent  pianist,  and  Ella,  wife  of  Eduard  Vacquary,  of 
Vienna,  Austria,  a  vocalist.  A  younger  brother,  Arthur,  a 
cruiser  for  J.  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  is  gifted  musically. 

Mr.  Thrane  holds  membership  in  the  Country  Club,  Pick- 
wick Club  and  Louisiana  Club,  of  New  Orleans,  and  the 
Chicago  Athletic  Association,  Midlothian  Country  Club,  Mu- 
nicipal Art  League,  Art  Institute  of  Chicago,  South  Shore 
Country  Club  and  the  Chicago  Fly  Casting  Club,  of  Chicago. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  famous  Lotos  Club  of  New  York,  also 
of  the  Blue  Andalusian  Club  of  America,  and  conducts  a 
poultry  farm  near  New  Orleans,  where  he  has  bred  many  prize- 
winning  Andalusians  and  other  varieties  of  poultry.  He  is  a 
Knight  of  Pythias,  a  Republican  in  politics  and  takes  a  deep 
interest  in  better  government  movements. 

More  than  ordinarily  observant,  Mr.  Thrane  gets  more 
out  of  his  travels  than  the  average  man.  In  the  woods,  afield, 
or  in  the  streets  of  a  city  he  mentally  pictures  the  ever  chang- 
ing scenes  for  the  delectation  of  friends.  He  has  traveled 
extensively,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  as  a  clever  amateur 
photographer  he  has  many  remembrances  of  these  trips. 


William  H 


A     J 


un 

oi  li 


lumber  in- 
V,  his  first  venture  b  getting  out 

nwood  stave  bolts  for  a  Bu.  a.     It  v<  t  a  profit- 

able venture,  for  when  he  had  completed  the  contract  for 
7,000  cords,  he  found  himself  $2,000  in  debt.  He  then 
worked  as  woods  and  mill  foreman  for  three  years,  in  the 
autumn  of  each  year  running  a  steam  thresher,  and,  by  dint  of 
hard  labor,  he  f  .11. 

lournevinff  to  >  A.rm,  Michigan,  in  i88i.he  i<  d 

nherino'   onerat'  n 

..-t 
.:ich  he 

workv-   ....  earnings.     He 

Bprnrpr?  tirn  .  ;tg  general  store  -^"'^ 

.  in  charge  of  th'*  ' 
ic  affairs  of  the  co  j 

III  landise  out  of  str-  e 

'^r  the 
'  ana, 
>m  ha 
nandicapp 
ot  c  business. 

in  tj  "  his  partner  p 

tract  from  f  hard 


'S£]£S9Mui~^. 


tBSa;. 


\A/II_L.IAM     H.    NA/HITE 


I 


William  H.  White 


A  remarkable  example  of  the  power  of  fixed  purpose  and 
untiring  perseverance  is  found  in  the  life  of  William  H.  White, 
of  Boyne,  commonly  known  as  Boyne  City,  Michigan.  He 
was  born  at  Owen  Sound,  Ontario,  Canada,  April  12,  1859,  of 
Scotch  Irish  parents.  It  was  there  that  he  secured  his  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools,  and  grew  to  manhood. 

Mr.  White  has  always  been  identified  with  the  lumber  in- 
dustry, his  first  venture  being  in  Essex,  Ontario,  getting  out 
Cottonwood  stave  bolts  for  a  Buffalo  firm.  It  was  not  a  profit- 
able venture,  for  when  he  had  completed  the  contract  for 
7,000  cords,  he  found  himself  $2,000  in  debt.  He  then 
worked  as  woods  and  mill  foreman  for  three  years,  in  the 
autumn  of  each  year  running  a  steam  thresher,  and,  by  dint  of 
hard  labor,  he  paid  his  creditors  in  full. 

Journeying  to  South  Arm,  Michigan,  in  1881,  he  assumed 
charge  of  a  sawmill  and  lumbering  operations  for  John 
Monroe,  Senior,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  following  year  he  met 
another  reverse  by  the  failure  of  the  company  for  which  he 
worked  and  which  owed  him  about  $600  in  earnings.  He 
secured  $450  worth  of  merchandise  from  its  general  store  and 
put  it  in  a  warehouse.  He  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  busi- 
ness by  the  assignee  and  wound  up  the  affairs  of  the  company 
in  January,  1883.  Taking  the  merchandise  out  of  storage,  he 
shipped  it  to  Boyne  City  and  formed  a  partnership  with  R.  E. 
Newdille,  who  had  been  bookkeeper  for  the  South  Arm  con- 
cern. The  merchandise  was  disposed  of  and,  with  a  capital 
of  about  $900,  the  firm  started  in  the  broom  handle  business. 
Later,  it  began  manufacturing  lumber,  handicapped  by  a  debt 
of  $600  acquired  in  the  broom  handle  business. 

In  the  fall  of  1884  Mr.  White  and  his  partner  got  a  con- 
tract from  a  Detroit  firm  for  500,000  feet  of  hardwood  lumber, 

209 


2IO  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

all  firsts  and  seconds,  for  low  grades  were  of  difHcult  sale  in 
those  days.  C.  J.  Lloyd,  of  Detroit,  furnished  the  money  to 
fill  the  contract  for  $2  a  thousand  feet,  and,  convinced  that 
Mr.  White  could  make  lumber,  he  gave  the  partners,  in  1885, 
a  better  contract  for  1,000,000  feet.  Mr.  White  bought  the 
interest  of  Mr.  Newdille  and  continued  the  business  alone. 
He  next  entered  into  partnership  with  Robert  R.  Perkins  and 
they  cut  2,800,000  feet  of  different  woods.  In  the  fall  Mr. 
White  secured  the  interest  of  his  partner  and  during  the  next 
year  cut  2,300,000  feet. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1886  that  Mr.  White  began  in 
good  earnest  to  manufacture  lumber,  having  bought  what  was 
then  known  as  the  Sheboygan  mill,  owned  by  the  Bank  of 
Sheboygan,  Sheboygan,  Wisconsin.  He  paid  $6,000  for  the 
mill  and  240  acres  of  timbered  land,  paying  $250  down  and 
getting  two  years'  time  on  the  balance.  He  received  a  contract 
from  the  Sheboygan  Chair  Company  to  furnish  2,000,000  feet 
of  hardwoods  for  two  years,  the  company  to  have  a  control- 
ling interest  in  the  factory.  Mr.  White  paid  for  the  mill  and 
land  out  of  the  profit  of  the  contract  and  brought  the  deed 
home  the  second  year.  He  continued  the  mill  another  year 
alone  and  then  sold  a  quarter  interest  to  his  brother,  James  A. 
White,  the  firm  being  known  as  William  H.  White  &  Co. 
Two  years  later  a  quarter  interest  in  the  business  was  sold  to 
two  other  brothers,  Thomas  and  George  W.  White. 

When  Mr.  White  and  his  brothers  began  to  experience 
difficulty  in  getting  logs  from  the  farmers  they  organized  the 
Boyne  City  &  Southeastern  Railroad  Company  and  built  eight 
miles  of  railroad  during  the  summer  of  1893.  Since  then  the 
road  has  been  extended  fifty  miles  into  the  forest.  In  1894 
the  steamer  Desmond  was  bought  to  carry  the  lumber  from  the 
mill  to  market,  though  this  vessel  subsequently  was  sold  and 
the  steamer  M.  C,  Neffwzs  secured  and  kept  in  the  trade  for 
about  three  years.  With  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness the  carrying  capacity  of  the  Neff  became  too  small  and 
she  was  replaced  by  the  steamer  John  S.  Spry^  which  was  re- 


WILLIAM  H.  WHITE  211 

named  the  Three  Brothers  and  put  into  service  between  Boyne 
City  and  the  yard  at  Tonawanda,  New  York,  which  was  estab- 
lished in  1901.  The  Three  Brothers  was  remodeled  in  1903 
and  her  capacity  increased,  so  that  she  now  carries  from  560,- 
000  to  600,000  feet  of  maple,  or  850,000  to  900,000  feet  of 
hemlock.  The  business  has  been  growing  steadily  in  one 
direction  for  twenty  years.  None  other  than  the  Whites  has 
invested  a  dollar  in  the  enterprise.  The  concern  started  in 
1885  cutting  500,000  feet  of  lumber  a  year,  and  in  1905  its 
output  had  reached  30,000,000  feet  of  lumber,  25,000,000 
shingles  and  100,000  railroad  ties.  The  Boyne  City  Chemical 
Company  takes  all  the  cordwood  from  the  White  lands,  and 
after  the  logs  are  cut  the  wood  is  sold. 

In  July,  1902,  Mr.  White  and  his  brothers  organized  the 
Boyne  City  Lumber  Company,  a  corporation  capitalized  at 
$500,000.  Fifteen  thousand  acres  of  hardwood  timber  lands 
were  bought  from  the  Ward  estate,  east  of  the  White  holdings 
between  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  and  Michigan  Cen- 
tral railroads.  Two  double  cutting  band  mills  and  a  resaw 
were  put  in  the  new  mill,  which  has  an  annual  capacity  of 
about  20,000,000  feet. 

The  White  concern  has  a  two-thirds  interest  in  the  Elm 
Cooperage  Company's  plant,  which  cuts  about  6,000,000  feet 
of  logs  into  hoops  and  staves  each  year.  The  output  of  lum- 
ber of  the  White  mill  plants  at  Boyne  City  is  30,000,000  feet 
of  hardwood  and  hemlock  lumber  from  the  W.  H.  White 
Company  mill,  20,000,000  feet  of  hardwood  and  hemlock  from 
the  Boyne  City  Lumber  Company  mill  and  5,000,000  feet  of 
hardwood  logs  from  the  Elm  Cooperage  Company  plant, 
besides  50,000,000  shingles.  The  company  owns  50,000  acres 
of  hardwood  timber  lands,  and  that  stumpage,  together  with 
what  it  is  buying  each  year,  will  make  about  thirty  years' 
cutting. 

The  firm  of  William  H.  White  &  Co.  was  incorporated  as 
the  W.  H.  White  Company,  December  i,  1905,  with  a  capital 
of  $1,200,000,  all  paid  in.     The  stockholders  of  the  company 


212  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

are  mainly  the  brothers,  who  were  copartners  in  the  old  firm, 
the  exceptions  being  some  of  the  old  employees  who  were 
presented  with  stock.  The  officers  of  the  company  are 
William  H.  White,  president;  James  A.  White,  first  vice 
president;  Thomas  White,  second  vice  president  and  treasurer, 
and  William  L.  Martin,  secretary. 

Mr.  White,  besides  being  president  and  general  manager 
of  the  W.  H.  White  Company,  is  president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Boyne  City  Lumber  Company;  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Boyne  City  &  Southeastern  Railroad 
Company;  president  of  the  Boyne  City  State  Bank;  first  vice 
president  of  the  Boyne  City  Chemical  Company ;  secretary  of 
the  Elm  Cooperage  Company;  treasurer  of  the  Michigan 
Maple  Company,  which  enterprise  was  started  March  14,  1901 ; 
president  of  the  Boyne  City  Board  of  Trade,  and  president  of 
the  Beulah  Farm  for  Boys,  at  Boyne  City. 

Mr.  White  married  Miss  Abigail  Wigle,  of  Kingsville, 
Ontario,  June  23,  1879.  Two  children  were  born  to  them. 
Pearl  E.  White  and  Lysle  H.  White.  Mrs.  White  died  in 
1889,  and  in  1899  ^^  married  Miss  M.  Louise  Reeder,  of  Lake 
City,  Michigan. 

Mr.  White  is  a  member  of  the  Boyne  City  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  being  one  of  the  official  board  and  active 
in  planning  its  business  affairs;  but  he  finds  his  greatest  enjoy- 
ment in  life  with  his  home  and  his  family  after  business  hours. 


all  the  written  autb 
res  in  his  hosom  a  patriotic  devo- 
te te.  And  that  is  how 
A  ,  of  Saginaw,  s  his  c  State  of  n. 
For  seven  years,  as  a  landlooker,  he  tramped  thi  'ic 
timbered  counties  of  Michigan,  much  more  n'irrs 
days  than  now.  He  If^rnpd  not  only  the  i^. 
native  Stater  ^'*  ^^'^'^  ^               f.w.nA^t^r^nc  r^f  v, 


r-  r  r>  5 '  c 


-v.^    wiuwi      iiiig 


secure 
jacking  logs 
influence  of  his  t 
he  has  since  perp 


_I_IIH     J=IUHT5=I  A 


ARTHUR     HILL. 


Arthur   Hill 


If  any  man  truthfully  may  claim  to  know  his  native  state  it 
is  the  man  who  has  learned  that  state  "by  heart" — who  has 
tramped  through  her  forests,  slept  under  her  skies  and  drunk 
from  the  sources  of  her  rivers.  Such  a  contact  with  his  com- 
monwealth gives  a  man  knowledge  of  her  resources  and  beau- 
ties and  characteristics  that  all  the  written  authorities  never 
could  afford  him,  and  inspires  in  his  bosom  a  patriotic  devo- 
tion that  mere  residence  never  could  create.  And  that  is  how 
Arthur  Hill,  of  Saginaw,  knows  his  native  State  of  Michigan. 
For  seven  years,  as  a  landlooker,  he  tramped  through  the 
timbered  counties  of  Michigan,  much  more  numerous  in  those 
days  than  now.  He  learned  not  only  the  typography  of  his 
native  State ;  he  also  laid  the  foundations  of  his  character  and 
his  career,  the  one  as  high  as  the  other  has  been  conspicuously 
successful. 

Arthur  Hill  was  born  at  St.  Clair,  Michigan,  in  1848.  His 
grandfather  was  Daniel  Hill,  a  soldier  in  the  American  army 
that  General  Hull  surrendered  to  the  British  at  Detroit  in 
1812,  but  who  escaped  in  time  to  join  Commodore  Perry's 
fleet.  His  widow,  after  his  death  in  1826,  secured  160  acres 
near  St.  Clair  on  a  military  land  warrant,  of  which  forty  acres 
was  later  inherited  by  her  son,  James  H.  Hill.  He  traded  it 
for  a  lumber  scow  and  moved  to  St.  Clair,  where  Arthur  Hill 
was  born.  After  sailing  a  number  of  summers  and  lumbering 
the  accompanying  winters,  the  elder  Hill  was  attracted  to 
Saginaw  by  its  great  resources,  and  moved  there  in  1856.  He 
began  the  operation  of  a  small  sawmill,  and  there  Arthur  Hill 
secured  his  first  hard  training  as  a  lumberman,  sorting  and 
jacking  logs  and  later  measuring  the  lumber.  Through  the 
influence  of  his  teacher  at  the  Union  School,  whose  memory 
he  has  since  perpetuated  with  a  scholarship  at  the  great  State 

213 


214  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

university,  his  father  was  induced  to  give  him  a  college  edu- 
cation, and  he  graduated  from  the  University  of  Michigan  as 
a  civil  engineer. 

After  a  year  of  railroad  surveying  in  Minnesota,  following 
his  graduation,  he  returned  to  Michigan  and  became  a  land- 
looker,  estimating  forties  on  fees  or  shares.  In  this  capacity 
he  tramped  over  a  large  part  of  the  State  with  his  pack  on  his 
back,  fording  rivers  and  enduring  all  the  hardships  and  priva- 
tions that  such  a  life  entails.  For  seven  years  he  followed  this 
work,  and  nothing  but  a  strong  physique  and  an  indomitable 
spirit  carried  him  through.  It  was  a  hard  training,  but  a  good 
one,  for  it  not  only  helped  to  shape  his  character,  but  to  equip 
him  with  knowledge  which  proved  useful  in  after  years. 

After  this  experience  the  firm  of  Hill  Bros,  was  formed, 
with  Wilbur  H.  Hill  as  the  senior  member.  It  continued  in 
the  lumber  business  until  its  holdings  on  the  Saginaw  River 
were  exhausted  and  its  operations  had  been  extended  to  Chip- 
pewa, Delta,  Marquette,  Mackinac  and  Menominee  counties 
in  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan.  In  the  meantime,  on 
the  death  of  the  senior  member,  the  firm  name  was  changed 
to  Arthur  Hill  &  Co.,  Limited. 

Mr.  Hill  was  interested  in  the  Cranberry  Lumber  Com- 
pany, which  operated  at  Duluth,  Minnesota,  for  a  number  of 
years.  Arthur  Hill  &  Co.  also  bought  on  Georgian  Bay  300,- 
000,000  feet  of  timber,  a  part  of  which  was  manufactured  into 
lumber  at  Midland,  Ontario,  and  the  rest  sold  later  to  resident 
purchasers. 

With  the  late  Eldridge  M.  Fowler  and  Edwin  C.  Whitney, 
now  of  Ottawa,  Ontario,  Mr.  Hill  organized  the  St.  Anthony 
Lumber  Company  in  Minnesota,  a  concern  which  operated 
there  for  several  years,  cutting  30,000,000  to  40,000,000  feet  a 
year.  This  company  secured  control  of  the  booms  on  the 
Mississippi  River  at  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  and  sold  out 
its  holdings  there  to  the  Weyerhaeuser  syndicate  for  over 
$2,000,000  in  1893.  I^  ^^^  meantime  it  had  purchased  a  tract 
of  about  600,000,000  feet  of  timber  145  miles  northwest  of 


ARTHUR  HILL  215 

Ottawa,  where  the  company  erected  a  large  sawmill  plant 
which  is  still  operating.  Mr.  Hill  is  president  of  the  company. 
Mr.  E.  C.  Whitney,  the  resident  partner  and  manager,  is  a 
brother  of  the  Hon.  J.  P.  Whitney,  premier  of  Ontario. 

During  this  time  the  company  had  been  securing  timber 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and,  in  connection  with  his  associate, 
Mr.  Fowler,  and  others,  Mr.  Hill  organized  a  company  known 
as  the  Madera  Sugar  Pine  Company,  of  which  he  is  president. 
A  large  sawmill  plant  was  erected,  with  a  flume  nearly  sixty 
miles  long,  which  conveys  the  cut  of  the  mill  to  Madera,  Cali- 
fornia, on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad.  This  plant  has  an 
output  of  between  30,000,000  and  40,000,000  feet  a  year. 

In  1904,  together  with  the  Blodgetts,  the  Danahers  and 
others,  Mr.  Hill  purchased  an  interest  in  the  Booth-Kelly 
Lumber  Company,  of  Eugene,  Oregon.  This  is  said  to  be 
the  largest  operating  plant  in  Oregon,  and  the  company  is 
estimated   to  hold  not  less  than  4,000,000,000  feet  of  timber. 

About  1890  the  Saginaw  Steel  Steamship  Company  was 
formed,  and  built  at  the  Wheeler  shipyards  at  Bay  City, 
Michigan,  two  ships,  the  Mackinac  and  Keweenaw^  which  were 
taken  to  the  seaboard  and  engaged  in  ocean  commerce. 
Arthur  Hill  &  Co.  owned  the  majority  of  the  stock  in  this 
line,  Mr.  Hill  being  president  and  James  Jerome,  general 
manager.  The  Keweenaw  was  lost  at  sea  with  all  on  board. 
Meantime,  there  had  been  additions  to  the  fleet  —  the  ships 
LeelenaWy  Mattewan  and  Argyle — which  ships  were  later 
turned  over  with  others  to  the  Michigan  Steamship  Company, 
a  new  corporation,  which  is  still  engaged  in  the  shipping  busi- 
ness under  the  same  officers  and  management.  There  was 
also  merged  into  the  Michigan  Steamship  Company  the  Prog- 
reso  Steamship  Company,  which  Mr.  Hill  and  his  associates 
controlled.  The  ships  of  the  line  have  run  to  Alaska  on  the 
north  and  Panama  on  the  south,  and,  during  the  Spanish  War 
and  the  "Boxer"  troubles,  to  the  Philippines  and  to  China, 
carrying  horses  and  supplies  for  the  Government.  Four  of 
them  were  transformed  into  oil  carriers,  three  being  engaged 


2i6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

in  transporting  oil  from  Texas  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
and  one  from  San  Francisco  to  Honolulu.     The   Michigan 
Steamship  Company  in  1906  sold  a  portion  of  its  fleet  to  the 
Union  Oil  Company,  of  California,  and  with  that  company 
organized  the  United  Steamship  Company,  to  engage  in  the 
oil-carrying  business.     The  United    Steamship  Company,  of 
which  Mr.  Hill  is  president,  bought  the  steamers  Minnetonka 
and  Minnewaska  from  the  American  Shipbuilding  Company 
early  in  1906,  and  they  were  converted  at  the  Newport  News 
shipyards  into  oil  carriers.     Each  of  these  steamers  cost  the 
American  Shipbuilding  Company  $400,000  and  each  has  a  dead 
weight  capacity  of  over  7,000  tons.     The  Union  Oil  Company 
is  constructing  a  pipe  line  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  for  the 
transportation  of  oil  from  California  to  New  York  by  steamers. 
Mr.  Hill  has  various  interests  in  the  Saginaw  Valley,  as 
well  as  mining  interests  in  the  West  and  timber  holdings  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.     He  has  never  aspired  to  possess 
an  enormous  fortune,  but  has  always  given  himself  leisure  to 
travel,  to  study  and  to  discharge  such  public  duties  as  came  to 
him.     He  served  three  years  as  mayor  of  old  Saginaw  prior  to 
the  consohdation  of  Saginaw  City  and  East  Saginaw,  and  per- 
formed the  duties  with  fidelity.    He  holds  the  office  of  regent 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  to  which  he  was  appointed  by 
former  Governor  A.  T.  BHss,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  the   death   of    Regent   Crocker   in   1901.     Mr.   Hill  was 
reelected  to  a  full  term  of  eight  years  in  April,  1905.    He  feels 
a  just  pride  in  his  alma  mater  and  has  rarely  missed  one  of  her 
commencements.     He  has  given  the  university  and  its  needs 
careful  attention  as  regent  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
useful  members  of  the  board  of  regents. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Mr.  Hill's  career  has  been  one  of 
activity  from  the  time  that  he  first  associated  himself  with  the 
lumber  business  as  a  sawmill  hand.  All  of  his  energies,  how- 
ever, have  not  been  confined  to  his  own  interests  and  many 
others  have  profited  by  his  ability.  The  pubHc  also  has  had 
his  services  in  high  office,  which  have  ever  been  satisfactory. 


I 


A 


In  a 
north 


s  were  contined  to  ' 
,  as  the  fame  of  the  wh 
the  scenes  of 
forti  ii  the  Wolverine   State, 

cut  short  his  career  as  he  neared  the  zenith  of  his  suc- 
cess, but  the  family  name  is  given  additional  luster  by  a  mem- 
ber of  another  generation,  who  is  widely  known  by  reason  of 
his  operations  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Lorenzo  Leadbetter  possessed  many  of  the  sterling  virtues 
of  his  Puritan  forbears,  though  he  was  not  of  the  forbidding, 

r-' -Tiinded  type.     Huge  of  frame,  made  strong  in  body 

^  -^ent  in  '^'-^  '^'^en  air,  he  had  a  smiling,  hospitable 

-stances  his  friends;  yet,  withal,  he 

will  that  brooked  no  interference. 

'  survive  him,  but  scores  of  the 

aaw  Valley  recall  his  name  and 

the  son  of  Samuel  Leadbetter  and 
He  was  born  in  the  home  made 
,  March  8,  1809.     His  ancestors 
s  of  Dorchester,  >' 


i 

is  f 

;i  in   tiiC 
'    ad- 

j  during 

the  R. 
ment  an  . 

il7 

\g  an  engage- 
tress  at  Hahfax  for 

5R3TT3  aa  A  3_l 

0SM3F«0_J 

m 


LORENZO     LEADBEITTER 


Lorenzo  Leadbetter 


In  a  modest  dwelling  in  Leeds,  Maine,  standing  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Androscoggin  River,  a  stream  famous  in 
the  lumber  annals  of  the  Border  State,  Lorenzo  Leadbetter,  a 
pioneer  of  two  great  lumbering  sections  of  the  United  States, 
was  born.  His  early  activities  were  confined  to  the  spruce 
forests  of  his  native  State,  but,  as  the  fame  of  the  white  pine 
of  Michigan  grew  apace,  he  forsook  the  scenes  of  his  first 
efforts  to  win  a  name  and  fortune  in  the  Wolverine  State. 
Death  cut  short  his  career  as  he  neared  the  zenith  of  his  suc- 
cess, but  the  family  name  is  given  additional  luster  by  a  mem- 
ber of  another  generation,  who  is  widely  known  by  reason  of 
his  operations  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Lorenzo  Leadbetter  possessed  many  of  the  sterhng  virtues 
of  his  Puritan  forbears,  though  he  was  not  of  the  forbidding, 
narrow-minded  type.  Huge  of  frame,  made  strong  in  body 
by  a  life  spent  in  the  open  air,  he  had  a  smiling,  hospitable 
manner  that  made  acquaintances  his  friends;  yet,  withal,  he 
had  a  masterful  mind  and  a  will  that  brooked  no  interference. 
Few  who  knew  him  in  Maine  survive  him,  but  scores  of  the 
early  lumbermen  in  the  Saginaw  Valley  recall  his  name  and 
enterprise. 

Lorenzo  Leadbetter  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Leadbetter  and 
Betsy  (Parcher)  Leadbetter.  He  was  born  in  the  home  made 
by  his  father  at  Leeds,  Maine,  March  8,  1809.  His  ancestors 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Dorchester,  Massachusetts, 
and  the  name  of  Leadbetter  is  frequently  met  with  in  the 
New  England  states.  Increase  Leadbetter,  Lorenzo  Lead- 
better's  grandfather,  was  a  resident  of  Vinal  Haven,  Maine, 
who  carried  his  flint-lock  in  the  ranks  of  the  patriots  during 
the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was  captured  during  an  engage- 
ment and  suffered  imprisonment  in  the  fortress  at  Halifax  for 

217 


2i8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

more  than  a  year.  Some  of  his  martial  spirit  was  inherited  by 
Lorenzo  Leadbetter,  who  in  his  later  career  proved  a  disci- 
plinarian with  his  employees  and  demanded  punctuality  and 
exactness  from  those  with  whom  he  had  business  dealings. 

At  Leeds,  at  the  period  of  Mr.  Leadbetter's  boyhood,  was 
a  common  school  supported  by  the  community  and  conduct- 
ed with  the  purpose  of  instilling  in  the  minds  of  the  young 
the  rudiments  of  an  education  within  the  shortest  possible 
time.  In  those  days  it  was  the  custom  to  put  the  sons  of  a 
family  to  work  almost  before  they  were  youths,  a  brief  school- 
ing, three  or  four  short  winter  terms,  being  considered  suf- 
ficient for  a  pupil  to  acquire  enough  learning  to  carry  him 
successfully  through  life's  battles  to  the  goal  of  success. 
Young  Leadbetter  was  sent  to  this  common  school  by  his  par- 
ents and  he  was  no  better  equipped  mentally  than  were  the 
sons  of  other  families  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  poorly-educated,  youthful  Leadbetter  started  in  to 
earn  his  own  living  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  He  had  little 
choice  in  the  matter  of  a  vocation  because  of  the  few  indus- 
tries which  thrived  in  that  section.  From  babyhood  he  had 
been  familiar  with  the  rafting  of  sawlogs  down  the  Andros- 
coggin River,  whose  waters  were  plainly  visible  from  the 
house  in  which  he  was  born.  Perhaps  it  was  this  oft-repeated 
picture  that  led  him  to  seek  work  in  a  sawmill  located  a  short 
distance  from  Leeds  on  the  Androscoggin  River.  He  was 
given  employment  hustling  slabs,  wheeling  sawdust  and  other 
duties  of  a  humble  nature  for  which  he  was  paid  an  insignifi- 
cant sum  of  money.  It  was  in  this  old  mill  that  he  got  his  first 
taste  of  sawmilling  and  formed  the  decision  to  engage  in  the 
business  for  himself. 

From  a  helper  about  the  mill  the  youth  developed  into  a 
raftsman  and,  with  his  brother,  Horace  Leadbetter,  began 
driving  logs  from  the  upper  waters  of  the  Androscoggin  to 
the  mills  situated  along  its  banks  toward  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  He  followed  this  occupation  for  several  years  before 
he   determined   to  venture  farther  north   to   the  Penobscot 


LORENZO   LEADBETTER  219 

River,  where  vast  forests  of  pine  and  spruce  were  being  open- 
ed up.  He  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  and  his 
brother  went  to  Oldtown,  Penobscot  County,  where  he  took 
up  rafting.  He  was  shrewd  beyond  his  years  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  engaged  in  logging  and  driving  on  his  own 
account.  Before  he  had  reached  manhood  Lorenzo  Leadbet- 
ter  and  his  brother  had  extended  their  operations  widely. 
They  built  up  an  extensive  business,  Lorenzo  Leadbetter  look- 
ing more  after  the  driving  and  its  details  while  Horace  Lead- 
better,  known  throughout  the  section  as  one  of  the  strongest 
and  hardiest  of  men,  took  charge  of  the  various  camps  estab- 
lished by  the  enterprising  partners. 

In  the  early  '50's  tidings  of  the  immense  extent  of  valuable 
timber  lands  to  be  found  in  Michigan  excited  the  curiosity  of 
Mr.  Leadbetter.  He  was  justly  proud  of  what  he  had  accom- 
plished in  his  native  State,  but  he  longed  to  begin  anew  on  a 
larger  scale  where  existed  the  chance  of  making  a  success 
such  as  seemed  impracticable  in  the  narrow  confines  of  the 
lumber  industry  of  Maine.  He  had  been  thrifty  during  his 
career  and  had  saved  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  Leaving 
his  brother  to  carry  on  the  business  at  Oldtown,  Mr.  Leadbet- 
ter started  West  for  the  new  lumber  country.  He  had  closed 
out  all  his  interests  in  Maine  and  he  had  this  money  to  invest 
in  timber.  He  reached  East  Saginaw  in  1856  and  determined 
to  make  his  headquarters  there. 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Michigan  Mr.  Leadbetter 
began  the  investment  of  his  capital  in  white  pine  timber  lands. 
His  experience  in  Maine  had  fitted  him  well  to  select  good 
timber  and  he  acquired  title  to  some  of  the  best.  By  i860 
these  holdings  reached  a  total  of  10,000  acres,  principally 
located  in  Saginaw  and  Gladwin  counties.  He  built  a  saw- 
mill on  the  Saginaw  River  within  a  couple  of  years  after  reach- 
ing that  region  and  this  was  supplemented  in  later  years  by 
another  mill,  the  two  plants  representing  a  large  investment. 
The  business  was  carried  on  under  his  own  name,  and,  gradu- 
ally, he  became  a  factor  in  the  production  of  white  pine  lum- 


220  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ber  in  the  Saginaw  district.  He  also  owned  salt  wells,  in 
which  industry  many  other  lumbermen  had  engaged.  Un- 
fortunately, just  as  all  his  interests  were  at  the  stage  of  their 
highest  development  and  he  was  apparently  destined  to  win  a 
fortune  as  the  result  of  his  energy  and  enterprise,  Mr.  Lead- 
better  was  stricken  with  an  illness,  in  1865,  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  His  large  holdings  of  timber  and  his  manu- 
facturing business  were  dissipated  in  the  litigation  of  his  chil- 
dren. The  shattered  business  was  continued  by  his  eldest  son, 
Alvah  Leadbetter,  until  he,  also,  was  called  to  an  early  death. 
Mr.  Leadbetter  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  was  Mary 
Shaw,  of  Oldtown,  Maine,  whom  he  married  in  1835.  Two 
children,  Alvah  J.  and  Laura  Leadbetter,  both  of  whom  are 
deceased,  were  born  of  this  marriage.  His  second  wife  was 
Rebecca  H.  Robinson,  their  wedding  having  occurred  at 
Detroit,  Michigan,  in  1858.  Two  children  came  of  this  latter 
union — Herbert  and  Lorena  Leadbetter.  The  widow  and 
Herbert  Leadbetter  reside  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where 
the  son  holds  a  position  of  trust.  The  grandson  of  Horace 
Leadbetter,  the  brother  and  early  business  associate  of  Lorenzo 
Leadbetter,  is  F.  W.  Leadbetter,  of  Portland,  Oregon,  who  is 
one  of  the  largest  operators  on  the  Coast. 

Mr.  Leadbetter  was  affiliated  with  the  Congregational 
Church.  In  politics  he  was  a  Whig,  joining  the  Republican 
party  upon  its  birth.  He  took  an  interest  in  the  politics  of  the 
Wolverine  State  and  served  as  an  alderman  of  East  Saginaw, 
declining  higher  offices  tendered  him. 


TF 


The  titl<?  1  hr  home 

vr(  .Jual 

f^  has 
of 

.i.ai..va  11..^  i.iijiiu-»^i  in  the  forest,  has  directed  luc  camp  m  wm'^n 
it  is  felled,  the  drive  by  which  it  is  brought  to  the  mill,  its 
manufacture  into  boards  and  its  final  disposition  to  the  world 
through  the  medium  of  the  business  office.  The  title  of  lum- 
berman thus  bestowed  in  its  fullest  sense  fits  no  man  more  prop- 
erly than  it  does  Thomas  Friant,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 
Mr.  Friant  was  born  February  i6,  1840,  on  a  farm  near 
Plainfield,  Kent  County,  eight  miles  northeast  of  Grand 
Rapids,  and  was  the  son  of  a  lumberman.     His  father,  Cor- 

tilling  the  farm,  also  operated  several 

and  a  sturdy  pioneer  he  was. 

)  1803,  and  helped  to  build 

'  York.     He  went  West  in 

:r  building 

^  much  to  do 


i 

doing  a  ._  .  .»ven, 
Michigan.  .  small  in 
the  light  of  lau  .  .  .led  to  in- 
spect and  tally  ..^.....  ,u^  a  lUMiith  in    i860 


TMAIH-R     eAMOHX 


THOMAS     FRIANT 


Thomas  Friant 


The  title  of  ''lumberman,"  one  that  may  well  be  borne 
proudly,  falls  most  properly  on  the  shoulders  of  the  individual 
who  has  been  a  lumberman  from  forest  to  market,  who  has 
participated  in  all  the  changes  and  processes  that  the  wood  of 
commercial  use  undergoes  from  growth  to  final  utilization. 
A  lumberman  indeed  is  the  man  who  has  sought  out  and  esti- 
mated the  timber  in  the  forest,  has  directed  the  camp  in  which 
it  is  felled,  the  drive  by  which  it  is  brought  to  the  mill,  its 
manufacture  into  boards  and  its  final  disposition  to  the  world 
through  the  medium  of  the  business  office.  The  title  of  lum- 
berman thus  bestowed  in  its  fullest  sense  fits  no  man  more  prop- 
erly than  it  does  Thomas  Friant,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 

Mr.  Friant  was  born  February  i6,  1840,  on  a  farm  near 
Plainfield,  Kent  County,  eight  miles  northeast  of  Grand 
Rapids,  and  was  the  son  of  a  lumberman.  His  father,  Cor- 
nelius Friant,  besides  tilling  the  farm,  also  operated  several 
water  mills  on  the  Rogue  River,  and  a  sturdy  pioneer  he  was. 
He  was  born  in  New  York  State  in  1803,  and  helped  to  build 
the  famous  locks  at  Lockport,  New  York.  He  went  West  in 
1837  and  settled  on  a  homestead,  shortly  thereafter  building 
mills  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rogue  River. 

In  this  environment,  which  undoubtedly  had  much  to  do 
with  shaping  his  later  career,  Thomas  Friant  remained  until 
he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  securing  his  education  in  the  dis- 
trict school.  That  was  in  1857.  In  1858  and  1859  he  was 
bookkeeper  for  the  firm  of  Hopkins  &  Friant,  composed  of 
John  W.  Hopkins  and  his  older  brother,  George  W.  Friant, 
doing  a  forwarding  and  commission  business  at  Grand  Haven, 
Michigan.  His  salary  was  $25  a  month,  which  seems  small  in 
the  light  of  later  events,  but  it  was  then  that  he  learned  to  in- 
spect and  tally  lumber.     An  offer  of  $80  a  month  in    i860 

221 


222  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tempted  him  to  enter  the  employ  of  Galen  Eastman,  a  vessel 
owner,  with  whom  he  remained  one  season.  For  a  time  there- 
after he  bought  shingles  for  a  Chicago  firm. 

In  1861  and  the  two  following  years  Mr.  Friant  was  a  phar- 
macist at  the  old  home  at  Plainfield.  In  1864  he  became  a 
lumber  inspector  in  the  employ  of  Gilbert  Young.  In  1865 
he  was  in  charge  of  the  books  of  Nelson  Comstock  &  Co., 
of  Grand  Rapids,  furniture  manufacturers.  In  the  spring  of 
1866  he  became  bookkeeper  for  the  firm  of  Comstock  & 
Waters,  composed  of  C.  C.  Comstock  and  Harry  Waters. 

Mr.  Friant  at  this  time  approached  the  important  point  in 
his  career  when  his  association  with  T.  Stewart  White,  a  part- 
nership which  existed  for  forty  years,  began.  Mr.  White  was 
engaged  in  government  work  at  Grand  Haven,  and,  when 
Mr.  Friant  desired  in  1868  to  bid  for  the  contract  for  driving 
the  Grand  River  logs  and  assorting  and  delivering  them,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  White  under  the  name  of 
White,  Friant  &  Co.  They  were  very  successful  and  in  1869 
the  firm  became  White  &  Friant,  taking  a  two  years'  con- 
tract for  driving  the  Grand.  After  that  a  contract  was  not 
considered  necessary.  For  twenty-five  years  that  firm  had 
charge  of  the  movement  of  logs  on  the  Grand  River,  until  the 
end  of  the  industry  in  that  region. 

Mr.  White  and  Mr.  Friant  realized  some  profit  from  their 
river  operations  and  they  began  putting  their  money  into  pine 
land  on  the  Rogue  and  Flat  rivers.  Their  first  large  purchase 
was  that  of  the  Sands  tract  on  the  Flat  River,  for  which  they 
paid  $105,000  on  November  30,  1877. 

In  1877,  in  partnership  with  John  Rugee,  of  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  the  firm  of  John  Rugee  &  Co.  was  formed,  but 
within  a  year  the  name  was  changed  to  White,  Friant  &  Co. 
The  Seymour  mill  at  Nortonville,near  Springlake,  Michigan, 
was  rebuilt  and  equipped  with  a  gang  and  two  circulars,  its 
capacity  being  increased  to  200,000  feet  a  day.  There  the 
Sands  timber  was  manufactured. 

In  1885  the  White  &  Friant  Lumber  Company,  composed 


THOMAS  FRIANT  223 

of  Messrs.  White,  Friant  and  Rugee,  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  lumber  in  Menominee,  Michigan,  where  they  had 
acquired  timber  interests.  These  operations  continued  about 
eight  years.  During  this  period  they  were  also  interested  in 
minor  hardwood  manufacturing  operations  at  Grand  Haven. 

In  the  late  '8o's  Mr.  Friant,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  White 
and  Francis  Letellier,  under  the  firm  name  of  White,  Friant  & 
Letellier,  for  the  first  time  began  the  operation  of  a  railroad 
mill.  It  was  located  at  Leroy,  Michigan,  and  was  a  band  and 
circular  mill  of  125,000  daily  capacity.  These  operations  con- 
tinued five  years.  Messrs.  White  and  Friant  were  also  for  a 
time  interested  with  Mr.  Letellier  in  an  interior  finish  mill  on 
Canal  Street,  Grand  Rapids,  which  Mr.  Letellier  is  still  oper- 
ating. 

In  the  early  '90's  White,  Friant  &  Co.  purchased  a  double 
band  mill,  a  circular  mill  and  a  shingle  mill  at  Manistee,  Michi- 
gan. After  eight  years  of  operation  these  mills  were  sold  to 
the  Filer  interests. 

Mr.  Friant's  last  mill  operations  in  Michigan  followed  the 
purchase  of  the  Delta  Lumber  Company  mill  at  Thompson, 
six  miles  from  Manistique,  where  a  mill,  equipped  with  band, 
circular  and  gang  and  having  a  capacity  of  25,000,000  feet  a 
year,  was  operated  until  1894  under  the  personal  supervision 
of  Mr.  Friant,  who  lived  there  during  that  period.  This  con- 
cern was  known  as  the  F.  &  F.  Lumber  Company  and  included 
P.  C.  Fuller,  of  Grand  Rapids. 

Back  in  the  '8o's  Mr.  Friant  and  his  partners  had  begun 
to  purchase  sugar  pine  in  California  and  at  that  time  he  visited 
that  region,  putting  in  a  year  on  horseback  and  afoot  in  looking 
at  the  timber.  These  Michigan  men  are  said  to  have  been  the 
first  eastern  investors  in  that  kind  of  stumpage.  In  partner- 
ship with  J.  D.  Lacey  and  Mr.  White,  Mr.  Friant  is  a  heavy 
holder  of  Louisiana  cypress  and  is  a  partner  in  the  Tensas- 
Delta  Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago,  which  owns  considerable 
Louisiana  hardwood. 

Of  the  personal  side  of  Mr.  Friant's  character  much  might 


224  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

be  written.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  delightful 
gentleman  or  a  truer  friend.  His  genial  personality  is  exhib- 
ited unconsciously  in  his  almost  every  act  and  word.  There 
is  enough  sunshine  in  the  man  for  himself  and  for  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact.  When  he  approaches,  sorrow 
disappears  and  dull  care  takes  to  the  woods. 

Some  theosophic  friend  once  asked  Mr.  Friant  what  he 
would  like  to  be  in  his  future  state,  and  he  promptly  replied 
that  he  would  rather  be  a  lumberman  than  anything  else.  It 
is  a  pleasing  thing  when  a  man  is  thus  content  with  the  work 
that  has  been  his  life  occupation.  Mr.  Friant  did  not  express 
a  desire  to  be  a  lumberman  in  some  future  world  because  he 
had  found  lumbering  an  easy  business.  He  has  experienced 
all  its  hard  knocks.  When  his  firm  has  bought  timber  he  has 
gone  over  it  himself  in  caulked  boots  so  that  he  might  know 
just  what  the  timber  was  and  what  it  was  worth.  In  the  woods, 
in  the  mill  and  in  the  office  he  has  courted  rather  than  shirked 
hard  work.  He  has  been  a  lumberman  in  the  truest  sense, 
and  it  is  a  pleasing  tribute  to  the  industry  that  this  man,  who 
has  seen  all  its  ups  and  downs,  experienced  all  its  joys  and 
sorrows,  should  still  put  it  above  all  other  occupations.  It  is 
evidence,  also,  that  he  has  been  a  lumberman  because  he 
loved  the  business,  and  the  fact  that  his  heart  was  in  the  work 
may  be  considered  the  best  explanation  of  the  success  he  has 
attained. 

Mr.  Friant  is  married  and  lives  in  a  beautiful  home  at  the 
corner  of  Cherry  and  Union  streets,  in  Grand  Rapids.  He  is 
a  member  of  DeWitt  Clinton  Consistory,  Scottish  Rite  Masons, 
and  DeMolai  Commandery,  Knights  Templar.  His  social 
connections  are  with  the  Peninsular  Club  and  the  Kent  Coun- 
try Club. 


\v 


Allied  witn 
line  of  busincs 
between  i 
the  \  arc 

in  one  phase  it  m 
workable  shape  of  timber  p 
le  provision  of  '  1  for  op 

lion.     At   the  head  e  of  business  in   this  country 

stands  the  firm  of  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  of  Chicago  and 
New  Orleans,  in  which  Wood  Beal,  a  partner,  is  an  enter- 
prising and  aggressive  factor. 

Wood  Beal  comes  from  Dutch  Huguenot  stock,  the  earliest 
of  the  family  in  this  country  having  settled  in  the  Mohawk 
Vallev  more  than  200  vears  airo  And  in  that  ancestry  were 
m  er  or  lumber  business, 

al  grandfather,  Sarell  WnnH 

the  Adirondack  countrv  • 

Y'  wjth   thf    TTnn      T 


Rapiu^,  V. 
pioneers  in  uy  in  t 

Wood  Beal  is  mt  &uii  of  Wiliiiiiii  i 
B  ^^^  -  '    ^d  was  born  in  Grand 

a  student  at  Union 
Civil  War  began,  a; 
the  Federal  army, 

Tipletc  his  coursr: 
iiig  his  di  4i,  Senior,  went  t 

Michigan,   v.  ic  supcrinten 

schools,  though  a  in  a  ir 


1119 


-JA3a   aoow 


WOOD     BEIAL 


Wood  Real 


Allied  with  the  lumber  industry  of  the  country  is  a  certain 
line  of  business  that  may  aptly  be  styled  the  connecting  link 
between  capital  and  production.  It  is  the  medium  whereby 
the  working  units  of  the  industry  are  able  to  secure  timber 
and  organize  manufacture.  In  one  phase  it  involves  the  pur- 
chase and  consolidation  into  workable  shape  of  timber  prop- 
erties ;  in  another  it  means  the  provision  of  capital  for  opera- 
tion. At  the  head  of  this  line  of  business  in  this  country 
stands  the  firm  of  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  of  Chicago  and 
New  Orleans,  in  which  Wood  Beal,  a  partner,  is  an  enter- 
prising and  aggressive  factor. 

Wood  Beal  comes  from  Dutch  Huguenot  stock,  the  earliest 
of  the  family  in  this  country  having  settled  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley  more  than  200  years  ago.  And  in  that  ancestry  were 
many  who  were  identified  with  the  timber  or  lumber  business, 
or  related  interests.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Sarell  Wood, 
was  engaged  in  lumbering  in  the  Adirondack  country  in  New 
York  State,  and  was  acquainted  with  the  Hon.  J.  R.  Lindsay, 
of  Davenport,  Iowa.  Later,  Mr.  Wood  migrated  to  Michi- 
gan with  the  first  of  the  lumbermen,  settling  in  Grand 
Rapids,  where  he  and  his  brother.  Ransom  E.  Wood,  were 
pioneers  in  the  industry  in  the  lower  peninsula  of  Michigan. 
Wood  Beal  is  the  son  of  William  Henry  Beal  and  Gertrude  V. 
B.  Wood,  and  was  born  in  Grand  Rapids,  January  13,  1870. 

His  father  was  a  student  at  Union  College,  Schenectady, 
New  York,  when  the  Civil  War  began,  and  left  his  studies  to 
serve  in  the  ranks  of  the  Federal  army,  returning  to  college 
after  his  term  of  service  to  complete  his  course.  Upon  receiv- 
ing his  diploma  Mr.  Beal,  Senior,  went  to  Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan,  where  he  became  superintendent  of  the  public 
schools,  though  resigning  the  position  in  a  short  time  to  form 

225 


226  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

a  connection  with  the  Berkey  &  Gay  Furniture  Company. 
Subsequently,  he  made  his  home  in  New  York,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death  in  1896. 

Perhaps  the  chief  characteristic  of  Wood  Beal  as  a  boy  was 
his  energy.  He  exhibited  this  trait  while  a  pupil  in  the  public 
school  of  his  native  city,  though  it  is  not  unfair  to  admit  that 
he  was  not  the  most  studious  of  his  class.  He  possessed  too 
much  energy,  which  might  better  be  described  as  an  abundance 
of  animal  spirits,  to  become  a  bookworm.  He  had  no  capital, 
nor  did  anyone  display  more  than  a  passing  interest  in  the 
youth  after  he  had  left  school.  He  entered  the  employ  of 
Robinson  &  Lacey,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  the  prede- 
cessors of  the  firm  of  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.  of  today,  in 
which  business  he  is  a  partner,  as  an  office  boy  in  1889.  It  is 
not  recorded  that  the  youth  was  more  attentive  to  his  duties 
than  the  average  person  filling  a  similar  position,  but  succeed- 
ing events  indicate  that  he  took  more  than  a  passing  interest 
in  the  business  of  his  employers.  When  the  firm  of  Robinson 
&  Lacey  was  dissolved,  in  October,  1892,  through  the  with- 
drawal of  Mr.  Robinson,  J.  D.  Lacey  continued  the  business 
under  his  own  name,  establishing  headquarters  at  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana.  Mr.  Beal  remained  with  Mr.  Lacey  as  a 
clerk. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  his  work  he  took  a  course  at  a  busi- 
ness college  to  fit  himself  for  more  responsible  duties,  and  in 
actual  work  he  readily  learned,  in  all  its  phases,  the  business  of 
buying  and  selling  timber,  and  the  intricacies  of  timber  titles. 
The  period  between  1893  and  1898  was  one  of  general  busi- 
ness depression  throughout  the  country,  but  the  young  clerk, 
realizing  the  future  possibilities  of  the  line  in  which  he  had 
engaged,  did  not  turn  to  something  else.  Briefly,  it  may  be 
said  of  him  that  he  made  his  services  indispensable  to  Mr. 
Lacey,  and,  as  a  reward  for  this  faithfulness,  he  was  admitted 
to  a  partnership  in  the  business  upon  the  formation  of  James 
D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  in  1898.  Besides  Mr.  Lacey  and  Mr.  Beal, 
Victor  Thrane  is  a  partner  in  the  business. 


WOOD  BEAL 


227 


During  the  years  since  Mr.  Beal  became  interested  in  the 
business  of  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  the  firm's  operations  have 
become  the  most  extensive  of  any  of  its  line  in  the  world. 
The  volume  of  business  transacted  in  1905  reached  the  total  of 
$10,000,000.  The  operations  are  not  limited  by  the  bounds  of 
any  state  or  section  of  the  country,  but  supply  the  needs  of  the 
lumberman  of  the  North,  the  South,  the  East  and  the  West, 
and  of  Canada.  The  firm  owns  timber  in  its  own  name  in 
Louisiana,  Alabama,  Florida,  North  Carolina,  Washington, 
Province  of  Quebec  and  British  Columbia. 

Primarily,  the  business  carried  on  is  the  buying  and  selling 
of  standing  timber  and  timber  lands  on  commission  and  also 
embraces  purchases  made  on  account,  as  well  as  estimating 
timber  and  furnishing  opinions  as  to  its  value.  The  firm, 
through  its  steadfast  integrity  and  its  highly  specialized  ability, 
has  made  its  name  familiar  throughout  the  country,  and  finan- 
cial institutions  of  every  class,  furnishing  money  for  timber  in- 
vestment and  backing  lumber  companies  and  timber  holders, 
are  governed  largely  by  the  estimates  and  expert  opinions  sup- 
plied by  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.  Mr.  Beal  is  Mr.  Lacey's 
lieutenant,  and  for  one  of  his  age  he  has  had  a  larger  experi- 
ence in  estimating  and  demonstrating  the  value  and  contents 
of  a  given  area  of  forest  than  any  one  else,  perhaps,  in  the 
United  States. 

While  devoting  most  of  his  energy  to  the  business  of  the 
firm  of  James  D.  Lacey  &  Co.,  Mr.  Beal  has  other  interests  to 
occupy  part  of  his  time.  He  is  secretary  of  the  Tensas  Delta 
Land  Company,  Limited,  which  position  he  has  filled  since  the 
concern  was  organized  in  October,  1898,  and  also  is  secretary 
of  the  Southern  Cypress  Company,  organized  in  1897.  Within 
the  last  year  Mr.  Beal  has  given  considerable  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  the  Pigeon  River  Lumber  Company,  in  which  James 
D.  Lacey  &  Co.  are  largely  interested.  The  company  will 
operate  on  a  boundary  of  hemlock,  spruce,  poplar  and  oak,  of 
which  it  is  estimated  the  concern  has  about  900,000,000  feet. 
The  company  has  a  double  band  sawmill  at  Mount  Sterling, 


228  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

North  Carolina,  on  the  Tennessee  &  North  Carolina  Railroad, 
and  this  mill  has  a  cutting  capacity  of  30,000,000  feet  a  year. 
Mr.  Beal  is  secretary  of  this  company  and  has  much  to  do  with 
the  details  of  its  affairs. 

Mr.  Beal  married  Miss  Ellen  Nutt,  a  daughter  of  Austin 
Nutt,  of  Virginia,  at  New  Orleans,  April  27,  1898.  To  the 
couple  has  been  born  one  son — James  Lacey  Beal,  now  in  his 
eighth  year. 

Mr.  Beal,  personally,  has  no  church  connections,  but 
through  family  relations  is  identified  with  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Kent  Country  Club, 
of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan  ;  the  Midlothian  Club,  of  Chicago, 
and  the  Pickwick,  Louisiana  and  Country  clubs,  of  New 
Orleans.  Mr.  Beal  is  proud  of  his  native  city.  Grand  Rapids, 
which  he  still  considers  his  home,  though,  owing  to  the  loca- 
tion of  his  business  interests,  he  is  not  able  to  spend  much  of  his 
time  there.  While  he  is  there  each  year,  he  makes  New 
Orleans  his  winter  headquarters,  and  in  the  summer  time  he 
goes  North  so  as  to  be  in  touch  with  the  Chicago  office.  The 
growing  timber  interests  on  the  Pacific  Coast  have  taken  Mr. 
Beal  to  that  section  of  the  country  each  summer,  and  he  has 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  hundreds  of  lumbermen  in  that 
vast  region. 


Small  a! 
cha 


.  enence 
$  i,  who  died  June  i  was 

progressive,  and  the  end  was^  iffcrent  fr^  e  beg  g. 

A  successful  farmer,  he  became  a  successful  lumberman ;  and 
then  the  invention  of  a  mechanical  device,  shared  in  by  hii 
brother,  led  to  the  final  success  which  made  his  name  famous, 
literally  the  world  over,  in  the  woodworking  industry,  while  a 
large  manufacturing  plant  at  Milton  is  a  living,  throbbing 
mon-"^**^*  t^  r.;^  memory. 

ton  S^ '•"''■»""'  K  -  »^     cared  and  ma^**  ♦^•^ 
^^  ''  commonweri 

dustries   m  -^ 


;■. 


it 


a  p 
education  at  a 


home.    Thr  ^^,    _j3uMAe  was  engaged 


m 


SAMUEL    JOHNSTON     S H  I  M  E  R 


Samuel   J.  Shimer 


Small  and  apparently  inconsequential  things  have  often 
changed  the  entire  career  of  a  man.  Life  is  evolution,  and  he 
who  with  alert  and  well  ordered  mind  moves  in  harmony  with 
the  development  of  events  may,  indeed,  change  his  objectives 
and  methods,  but  advances  from  success  to  success.  So  it 
was  in  the  experience  of  Samuel  J.  Shimer,  of  Milton,  Penn- 
sylvania, who  died  June  i8,  1901.  His  life  work  was  steadily 
progressive,  and  the  end  was  far  different  from  the  beginning. 
A  successful  farmer,  he  became  a  successful  lumberman;  and 
then  the  invention  of  a  mechanical  device,  shared  in  by  his 
brother,  led  to  the  final  success  which  made  his  name  famous, 
literally  the  world  over,  in  the  woodworking  industry,  while  a 
large  manufacturing  plant  at  Milton  is  a  living,  throbbing 
monument  to  his  memory. 

Samuel  Johnston  Shimer  was  born,  reared  and  made  the 
success  of  his  life  in  the  Keystone  State,  a  commonwealth  that 
has  given  to  the  lumber  and  allied  industries  many  of  its 
foremost  men.  He  was  born  December  3,  1837,  in  Bethle- 
hem Township,  below  Freemansburg,  Northampton  County, 
being  the  son  of  Abraham  Beil  Shimer  and  Margaretta  (Johns- 
ton) Shimer,  natives  of  the  same  county.  The  father  was  of 
German  descent  and  the  mother  of  Scotch  parentage,  which 
accounts  for  the  many  sterling  qualities  of  the  son. 

Young  Shimer  spent  his  early  life  on  the  old  homestead 
built  in  1 801  by  his  grandfather,  Jacob  Shimer.  Bethlehem 
Township  was  the  center  of  a  prosperous  farming  community 
where  dwelt  men  of  substantial  means,  who  provided  well  for 
the  mental  and  moral  training  of  their  children.  The  boy  was 
a  pupil  in  the  public  schools  of  the  township,  finishing  his 
education  at  an  academy  in  Bethlehem,  four  miles  from  his 
home.    Through  his  youth  and  early  manhood  he  was  engaged 


229 


230  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

in  farming,  which  he  followed  until  he  was  thirty-four  years 
old.  Although  he  was  regarded  as  a  farmer,  he  devoted  much 
of  his  attention  to  the  planting  and  growing  of  fruit  trees.  He 
imported  nursery  stock  from  France  about  1855,  and  experi- 
mented successfully  with  foreign  trees  at  the  old  homestead. 

A  brother,  George  Shimer,  was  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business  at  Milton,  Northumberland  County,  on  the  West 
Branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River,  having  gone  there  from 
the  farm  in  1869  and  begun  operations  under  the  firm  name 
of  Applegate,  Shimer  &  Co.  George  Shimer  needed  assist- 
ance in  conducting  the  business  he  had  engaged  in,  and  in 
October,  1871,  he  was  joined  by  Samuel  J.  Shimer.  The  first 
tract  of  timber  land  bought  consisted  of  1,800  acres  of  pine 
timber  in  Union  County,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  from 
Milton.  The  operation  was  started,  the  timber  cut,  converted 
into  lumber  and  hauled  to  Milton,  from  which  point  it  was 
shipped  by  railroad  to  market.  Mr.  Shimer  had  a  financial 
interest  in  the  business  and  the  nature  of  the  work  appealed 
to  him  because  of  the  opportunities  it  afforded.  The  opera- 
tions were  extended  from  year  to  year  until,  in  all,  about  3,000 
acres  of  oak,  pine  and  hemlock  had  been  secured,  cut  and 
marketed.  The  growth  of  the  business  finally  led  to  the  mov- 
ing of  the  operations  of  the  company  and  their  concentration 
in  Milton,  in  which  borough  a  saw  and  planing  mill  was  built. 
Besides  the  lumber  turned  out  considerable  flooring  and  ceil- 
ing were  manufactured. 

It  was  while  engaged  in  planing  mill  work  that  an  event 
occurred  which  changed  the  whole  career  of  Mr.  Shimer.  In 
connection  with  his  brother,  Mr.  Shimer  invented  a  matcher 
head  of  novel  design,  a  device  that,  with  its  improvements,  is 
in  universal  use  today.  In  a  small  machine  shop,  which  was 
erected  by  the  two  brothers,  was  turned  out  the  matcher  head 
evolved  from  their  own  brains  and  experience.  Following 
the  destruction  of  the  shop  by  fire  in  May,  1880,  the  plant  was 
rebuilt  as  a  machine  shop  for  the  manufacture  of  the  Shimer 
cutter  heads  and  other  specialties.     From  that  time  on  the 


SAMUEL  J.  SHIMER  231 

firm  engaged  exclusively  in  the  production  of  mechanical 
appliances  for  planing  mills. 

Upon  the  retirement  from  business,  in  1884,  of  George 
Shimer,  Samuel  J.  Shimer  continued  the  business  alone,  in- 
creasing the  capacity  of  the  plant  from  time  to  time  and  build- 
ing up  an  extensive  trade.  In  January,  1890,  he  took  into 
partnership  his  two  sons,  Elmer  S.  Shimer  and  George  S. 
Shimer,  and  the  firm  became  Samuel  J.  Shimer  &  Sons. 
Late  in  1888  the  firm  secured  control  of  the  Milton  Manu- 
facturing Company's  plant,  which  since  has  been  operated  on 
an  ever  enlarging  scale.  In  1889  Mr.  Shimer  invented  and 
patented  a  valuable  machine  for  cutting  metal  washers. 

Mr.  Shimer  was  active  in  the  direction  of  the  business  of 
the  Milton  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  firm  of  Samuel 
J.  Shimer  &  Sons  until  his  death,  personally  supervising  the 
various  departments  and  taking  a  deep  interest  in  every  detail 
of  the  two  plants.  He  did  not  depend  entirely  upon  his  own 
efforts  in  insuring  the  best  class  of  work  turned  out,  but 
placed  in  charge  of  every  department  a  competent  man,  and 
under  each  foreman  were  men  who  were  treated  with  the 
greatest  consideration,  and  who,  in  return,  gave  the  best 
service.  The  policies  of  conservativeness,  honesty  and  pro- 
gressiveness  have  been  pursued  by  Mr.  Shimer's  sons,  who 
conduct  the  business  of  Samuel  J.  Shimer  &  Sons  today. 

In  the  West  Branch  Valley  Mr.  Shimer  was  acknowledged 
as  one  of  the  most  successful  manufacturers,  known  every- 
where as  a  man  of  commendable  enterprise  and  public  spirit, 
with  a  vein  of  charitableness  that  gained  him  the  respect  and 
gratitude  of  hundreds.  He  was  one  of  the  corporate  members 
of  the  Milton  Trust  &  Safe  Deposit  Company,  and  until  his 
death  was  one  of  the  directors  of  that  institution.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  an  elder  for  many 
years  in  the  Milton  organization.  While  not  a  politician,  Mr. 
Shimer,  by  reason  of  his  wide  experience,  had  much  to  do 
with  politics  in  the  municipality  and  was  a  supporter  of  the 
Republican  party.     He  was  a  councilman  for  several  terms 


232  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He  had  never  forgotten 
the  enjoyment  derived  from  horticulture  and  he  continued 
these  experiments  as  his  recreation  after  he  became  a  resident 
of  Milton. 

He  married  Miss  Catherine  A.  Stout,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Isaac  Stout,  the  former  a  native  of  Northampton 
County  and  the  latter  of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  both  of 
whom  were  of  prominent  origin.  The  wedding  was  cele- 
brated September  27,  i860.  Mrs.  Shimer  survives  her  hus- 
band and  is  the  mother  of  three  children  —  Elmer  S.  Shimer; 
Mary  C,  now  the  wife  of  William  A.  Heinen,  of  Milton,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  George  S.  Shimer.  Elmer  S.  Shimer  is  president 
of  Samuel  J.  Shimer  &  Sons,  and  George  S.  Shimer  is  vice 
president  and  treasurer  of  the  concern,  which  was  incorpo- 
rated in  1903. 


Whilr 
uals  t)' 


burg, 
':  by  death  on  January 

a  is  a  respected  Gerrv  m  -^ 

to  leave  the  fatht.  ^ 

Nicola,  the  father  of  W.  W.  Nicola.  As  a  young  man  the 
senior  Nicola  migrated  to  the  United  States  with  the  intention 
of  seeking  the  expansive  lands  of  the  new  country  and  becom- 
ing a  farmer  on  a  scale  that  would  be  impossible  in  his  native 
land.  The  occupation  proved  not  altogether  agreeable  to  him 
and  his  views  of  life  underwent  a  change  after  a  few  years 
sr— ^  " ■    ^        ^ 'ts;  and  he  was,  perhaps,  somewhat 


11 

it   was  in 

Cie-. 

It  iNicoia  was  born,  Nove     ' 

•   of  the  ( 

N 

He  was  a 

ti. 

full  t 

Even  1 

d  indicate  what 

a  busincsg 

-ed 

the 

He  was  < 

III  ;  the  business,  and  it 

A_IOOIH     THOlS=»^V     M#ii_I-"^^ 


\A/IL.I_IAM     WRIQHT     NICOLA 


William  W.  Nicola 


While  most  lumbermen  have  stood  out  distinctly  as  individ- 
uals there  are  some  who  have  done  their  most  notable  work 
as  members  of  a  family — brothers  working  together  for  a 
common  end  and  building  up  a  common  fame  and  fortune. 
Of  the  latter  class  is  William  Wright  Nicola,  of  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania,  whose  career  was  cut  short  by  death  on  January 
lo,  1906. 

Nicola  is  a  respected  German  name,  the  first  of  the  family 
to  leave  the  fatherland  and  come  to  America  being  Felix  W. 
Nicola,  the  father  of  W.  W.  Nicola.  As  a  young  man  the 
senior  Nicola  migrated  to  the  United  States  with  the  intention 
of  seeking  the  expansive  lands  of  the  new  country  and  becom- 
ing a  farmer  on  a  scale  that  would  be  impossible  in  his  native 
land.  The  occupation  proved  not  altogether  agreeable  to  him 
and  his  views  of  life  underwent  a  change  after  a  few  years 
spent  in  agricultural  pursuits;  and  he  was,  perhaps,  somewhat 
influenced  by  the  German  lass  whom  he  took  as  his  bride. 
Going  to  Cleveland,  he  took  up  the  study  of  law,  gained  ad- 
mittance to  the  bar  and  proceeded  to  practice.  It  was  in 
Cleveland  that  William  Wright  Nicola  was  born,  November 
16,  1865. 

Nothing  out  of  the  ordinary  is  to  be  recorded  of  young 
Nicola's  early  life.  He  was  a  boy  with  all  the  love  for  adven- 
ture to  be  found  in  a  lad  in  full  enjoyment  of  physical  energy. 
Even  in  school  he  displayed  no  extraordinary  liking  for  study 
or  developed  any  noteworthy  talent  that  would  indicate  what 
his  career  might  bring  forth.  He  did  not  seek  a  business 
opening  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old.  Then  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Woods,  Jenks  Lumber  Company,  in  his 
native  city,  as  a  tally  boy.  He  was  of  an  observing  turn  of 
mind  and  was  quick  to  learn  the  business,  and  it  was  not  long 

233 


234  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

before  he  was  promoted  to  be  inspector  for  the  company  on 
its  docks  on  the  Cuyahoga  River. 

Realizing  that  a  more  general  knowledge  of  the  lumber 
industry  would  be  of  value  to  him,  Mr.  Nicola  left  the  Woods, 
Jenks  Lumber  Company  and  spent  nearly  a  year  in  learning 
the  grading  of  lumber,  particularly  of  hardwoods,  poplar  and 
yellow  pine.  This  time  he  put  in  at  several  of  the  largest 
mills  in  the  country. 

Upon  the  formation  of  the  Nicola  &  Stone  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Cleveland,  in  1886,  Mr.  Nicola  became  a  salesman 
for  the  concern,  spending  five  years  traveling  on  the  road  in 
the  middle  West.  In  this  time  he  gained  considerable  knowl- 
edge of  the  demands  of  the  trade  of  a  large  section  of  the 
country  and  this  knowledge  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  later 
years.  In  1898  he  was  elected  vice  president  of  the  Nicola  & 
Stone  Lumber  Company,  but  sold  his  interest  in  the  concern 
two  years  later  to  become  identified  with  the  Nicola  Bros. 
Company,  of  Pittsburg. 

The  latter  company  was  incorporated  originally  as  Nicola 
Bros.,  under  the  laws  of  West  Virginia,  by  F.  F.  Nicola,  in 
1885.  Prior  to  the  formation  of  the  company  Mr.  Nicola 
had  been  employed  for  many  years  by  Fisher  &  Wilson,  of 
Cleveland,  first  in  charge  of  their  auditing  department  and 
later  representing  the  firm  as  a  salesman.  His  entrance  into 
Pittsburg  as  a  lumber  broker  was  practically  the  beginning  of 
that  method  of  doing  business  in  the  Smoky  City,  he  being 
the  first  wholesaler  to  enter  the  territory  and,  substantially,  the 
pioneer  of  what  was  then  known  as  the  brokerage  lumber 
business  in  this  country.  The  business  was  started  on  Market 
Street  by  Mr.  Nicola  and  later  he  was  joined  by  Charles  A. 
Nicola,  who  formerly  had  been  associated  with  the  Bickford- 
Knox  Company,  of  Chicago,  and  who  remained  with  the  com- 
pany until  1893,  when  he  sold  his  interest.  In  the  meantime, 
A.  G.  Nicola  had  joined  forces  with  the  concern  and  George 
W.  and  Oliver  P.  Nicola  entered  the  employ  of  the  company, 
though  at  that  time  they  held  no  stock  in  it.     In  1893  offices 


WILLIAM  W.  NICOLA  235 

were  maintained  at  the  corner  of  Market  Street  and  Fifth 
Avenue,  these  being  retained  for  several  years  before  the  com- 
pany moved  to  the  Tradesmen's  Building,  then  to  the  German 
National  Bank  Building  and  finally  to  the  present  location  on 
the  fourteenth  floor  of  the  Farmers'  National  Bank  Building. 
By  this  time  Oliver  P.  and  George  W.  Nicola  acquired  inter- 
ests in  the  company. 

After  W.  W.  Nicola  became  vice  president  of  the  concern 
the  scope  of  the  business  was  changed  materially  from  that 
undertaken  upon  its  inception.  The  company  within  the  last 
five  years  had  gone  very  largely  into  the  handling  of  cotton- 
wood,  through  an  office  located  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  also 
into  white  pine,  through  an  immense  yard  established  in  Cleve- 
land, as  well  as  into  the  hardwood  business,  through  a  mill 
which  was  owned  at  Parkersburg,  West  Virginia,  and  after- 
ward sold  to  the  Nicolette  Lumber  Company,  of  Nicolette, 
West  Virginia. 

Mr.  Nicola  was  in  direct  charge  of  the  Cleveland  end  of 
the  business  and  maintained  an  office  in  the  New  England 
Building.  The  yard  at  this  point  is  located  on  Mahoning 
Street,  on  the  Cuyahoga  River,  and  has  ample  space  for  carry- 
ing from  12,000,000  to  15,000,000  feet  of  white  pine  in  stock. 
Most  of  the  lumber  which  reaches  the  yard  is  shipped  in  from 
the  upper  lake  district  by  boat.  During  1905  nearly  50,000,- 
000  feet  of  white  pine  was  handled  through  this  yard,  together 
with  about  35,000,000  lath.  Located  in  the  yard  is  a  planing 
mill  adjoining  the  tracks  of  the  Wheeling  &  Lake  Erie  Rail- 
road. It  is  a  two-story  mill,  the  lower  floor  of  which  is  used 
for  general  millwork  while  the  upper  story  is  fitted  up  as  a 
sash  and  door  department.  Besides  the  white  pine  stocks  car- 
ried in  the  yard  various  other  woods  are  handled  and  manufac- 
tured according  to  the  needs  of  the  market.  The  mill  has 
every  facility  for  planing  mill  work  and  for  turning  out  sash 
and  doors  for  the  general  trade. 

Beginning  with  1904  the  Nicola  Bros.  Company  went  into 
extensive  timber  purchases  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing 


236  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

its  own  stock  for  the  trade.  One  tract  owned  consists  of 
10,000  acres  of  timber  on  the  Pearl  River,  near  Canton,  Mis- 
sissippi. Although  F.  F.  Nicola  is  president  of  the  company, 
he  has  retired,  for  the  main  part,  from  active  connection  with 
the  business  and  has  devoted  himself  for  the  last  five  or  six 
years  mainly  to  his  large  real  estate  interests  in  Pittsburg. 
The  active  management  of  the  business  fell  upon  the  shoulders 
of  W.  W.  Nicola,  the  vice  president;  George  W.  Nicola, 
treasurer,  and  Oliver  P.  Nicola,  secretary. 

Mr.  Nicola,  in  the  prime  of  life,  had  a  firm  grasp  on  the 
diversified  interests  of  the  company.  He  spent  his  entire  life 
in  the  lumber  industry  and  gained  his  commercial  education 
in  a  practical  school  by  intimate  contact  with  the  men  who 
manufacture,  buy,  sell  and  distribute  lumber.  He  was  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  manufacturing  end  of  the  business 
by  reason  of  his  experience  among  the  large  mills  of  the 
country  when  he  was  acquiring  knowledge  to  fit  him  for  his 
career. 

Mr.  Nicola  took  a  leading  position  not  only  in  the  commer- 
cial affairs  of  Cleveland  and  Pittsburg,  but  in  the  social  life  of  the 
two  cities  as  well.  He  was  a  member  of  several  social  organi- 
zations in  each  city,  but  the  pressure  of  business  did  not  per- 
mit him  to  spend  many  of  the  hours  of  daylight  anywhere  but 
at  his  desk. 

Mr.  Nicola  married  Miss  Mary  Dartt  Robertson,  Decem- 
ber 22,  1891.  A  daughter — christened  Elizabeth — was  born 
of  this  union. 


Joseph    I    Linehan 


A\  uous  as  an 

'  ihe  world,  the 
ords   of 


the 
V   factor  in  her  v  I  or  commer- 

le  they  have  been  notable  warriors  and 

^_ jFS  in  the  Orient.    The  history  of  the  United  States, 

in  particular,  is  filled  with  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Erin  who 
cast  their  lots  in  the  new  land  to  their  own  and  this  country's 
lasting  good.  Among  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
the  Irish-American  citizens  figure  conspicuously,  and  in  his 
cosmopolitan  population  there  is  no  element  upon  whose 
loyalty  Uncle  Sam  relies  more  confidently,  either  in  peace  or 

in  war,  t^  "   '^ -^-isting  of  the  descendants  of  the  warm 

t'      '^  nave  enlisted  under  his  banner. 

,  of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  is  a  typical 

vmerican  man  of  business.    Mr.  Linehan 

i  J  lineage  and  of  his  ability  to  trace  it  back 

to  some  ot  the  lifst  families  of  the  land  of  the  shamrock.     His 

father  was  James  Linehan,  of  Cumberland,  Mar  '  his 

r,  before  her  marriage,  was  Anna  H   ' 
i  an  was  a  nr  r  of  iron  and  steel  rails  m  tlie  ea 

f  their  pr. 

<  private  S( 
1 
mastery  ot 

>  in  the  larger  at  He  be  familiar 

\  \]  workings  of  his  f?' 

service  of 


cari 


MAH3J/^U     .L     H«=J380L 


JOSEPH     J.     LINEMAN 


Joseph  J.  Linehan 


Although  the  Emerald  Isle  herself  is  not  conspicuous  as  an 
independent  nation  in  the  modern  history  of  the  world,  the 
names  of  her  sons  are  emblazoned  upon  the  records  of 
achievements  of  all  the  countries  which  stand  in  the  forefront 
of  civilization.  There  is  not  one  of  the  great  countries  of  the 
western  world  whose  history  does  not  disclose  the  name  of  an 
Irishman  who  was  a  notable  factor  in  her  martial  or  commer- 
cial advancement,  while  they  have  been  notable  warriors  and 
administrators  in  the  Orient.  The  history  of  the  United  States, 
in  particular,  is  filled  with  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Erin  who 
cast  their  lots  in  the  new  land  to  their  own  and  this  country's 
lasting  good.  Among  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
the  Irish-American  citizens  figure  conspicuously,  and  in  his 
cosmopolitan  population  there  is  no  element  upon  whose 
loyalty  Uncle  Sam  relies  more  confidently,  either  in  peace  or 
in  war,  than  that  consisting  of  the  descendants  of  the  warm 
blooded  Celts  who  have  enlisted  under  his  banner. 

Joseph  J.  Linehan,  of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  is  a  typical 
example  of  the  Irish-American  man  of  business.  Mr.  Linehan 
is  proud  of  his  Irish  lineage  and  of  his  ability  to  trace  it  back 
to  some  of  the  first  families  of  the  land  of  the  shamrock.  His 
father  was  James  Linehan,  of  Cumberland,  Maryland,  and  his 
mother,  before  her  marriage,  was  Anna  Hollern.  The  senior 
Linehan  was  a  manufacturer  of  iron  and  steel  rails  in  the  early 
days  of  their  production,  and,  after  a  good  education  in  one 
of  Cumberland's  private  schools,  young  Linehan  entered  his 
father's  employ.  There  he  displayed  an  aptitude  for  and 
mastery  of  detail  work,  which  has  been  of  immense  value  to 
him  in  the  larger  activities  of  later  years.  He  became  familiar 
with  the  practical  workings  of  his  father's  business,  but,  not 
caring  for  the  steel  and  iron  industry,  entered  the  service  of 


237 


238  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  West  Virginia  Central  &  Pittsburg  Railway  Company. 
This  was  about  the  year  1890.  Young  Linehan  worked  in 
nearly  all  the  departments  of  the  railway  company,  but  the 
greater  portion  of  the  period  of  his  employment  was  spent  in 
the  capacity  of  assistant  auditor. 

Mr.  Linehan's  connection  with  the  lumber  industry  dates 
from  1895,  when  he  became  interested  in  the  Randolph  Lum- 
ber Company,  of  Elkins,  West  Virginia,  which  at  that  time 
was  operating  extensively  in  the  hardwood  timber  of  the  Pan- 
handle State.  Mr.  Linehan  was  actively  engaged  in  the  lum- 
ber business  in  West  Virginia  for  six  years,  during  which  time 
he  thoroughly  familiarized  himself  with  the  manufacture  and 
distribution  of  hardwoods  and  southern  pine.  It  was  during 
this  period,  also,  that  he  acquired  an  extensive  acquaintance 
among  the  southern  mill  owners  —  an  acquaintance  which  has 
proved  a  valuable  asset  in  his  late  lumber  operations.  Every 
one  in  the  South  and  Southeast  knows  "J^^"  Linehan,  and 
when  *'Joe"  wants  a  carload  of  stock  shipped  into  the  Pitts- 
burg market  in  twelve  days  the  millmen  will  attempt  to  move 
heaven  and  earth  and  the  Southeastern  Car  Service  Associa- 
tion to  get  it  there  on  time. 

In  1901  Joseph  J.  Linehan  moved  to  Pittsburg,  where  he 
connected  himself  with  Willson  Bros.,  lumbermen  operating 
in  that  city.  A  year  later  he  accepted  a  position  as  manager 
of  the  Pittsburg  office  of  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber 
Company,  a  concern  which  is  an  extensive  operator  in  cherry, 
maple,  spruce  and  other  Virginia  woods.  This  position 
brought  him  into  direct  contact  with  the  consuming  trade  and 
completed  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance,  which  had  begun 
with  the  millmen  of  the  South. 

January  16,  1905,  Mr.  Linehan,  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  James  C.  Linehan,  formed  a  corporation  known  as 
the  Linehan  Lumber  Company,  which  bought  out  the  Pitts- 
burg branch  of  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber  Company 
and  established  its  head  office  on  the  twenty-fourth  floor  of 
the  Farmer's  National  Bank  Building,  the  suite  formerly  occu- 


JOSEPH  J.  LINEHAN  239 

pied  by  the  branch  of  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber 
Company,  under  the  management  of  J.  J.  Linehan.  The 
Linehan  Lumber  Company  began  its  commercial  career  upon 
an  excellent  foundation,  as  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber 
Company  enjoyed  a  good  business  in  the  Pittsburg  territory. 

The  company  was  incorporated  to  do  a  general  wholesale 
lumber  business  and  is  known  as  a  hardwood  company,  but  it 
makes  specialties  of  spruce,  hemlock  and  yellow  pine.  Of  the 
hardwoods  it  devotes  special  attention  to  oak  and  poplar.  Mr. 
Linehan  operates  upon  the  principle  that  lumber  well  bought 
is  half  sold  and  his  experience  in  direct  contact  with  sawmill 
men  and  their  manufacturing  plants  has  made  it  an  easy  matter 
for  him  to  ofYer  his  customers  the  best  stock  obtainable  from 
the  southern  field. 

The  business  has  grown  rapidly  under  the  energetic  man- 
agement of  the  Linehan  brothers  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  im- 
portant distributing  factors  in  the  Pittsburg  market.  It  is  to 
the  ability  and  the  pleasing  personality  of  Joseph  J.  Linehan 
that  the  success  of  the  Linehan  Lumber  Company  is  largely 
due.  He  is  the  kind  of  man  whose  rapidly  widening  circle 
of  acquaintances  shows  no  breaks.  He  makes  friends  readily 
and  they  remain  true  to  him  for  all  time. 

Mr.  Linehan,  while  conserving  and  advancing  his  whole- 
sale interests,  has  been  providing  for  the  future  by  laying  in  a 
supply  of  timber.  He  has  examined  the  resources  of  the 
southeastern  territory  and  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
location  and  value  of  the  hardwoods  which  are  found  there. 
As  a  result  of  these  investigations  the  Linehan  Lumber  Com- 
pany has  acquired  large  interests  in  hardwood  timber  lands  in 
several  states,  and  it  is  in  this  timber  that  the  profits  of  the 
company  have  been  invested. 

While  Mr.  Linehan  has  devoted  his  energies  to  the  further- 
ing of  the  business  of  the  Linehan  Lumber  Company  in  a 
manner  which  has  elicited  commendation  from  all  who  have 
watched  his  advancement  in  the  trade,  he  has  found  time  to 
cultivate  the  social  side  of  his  nature,  which  is  a  large  one. 


240  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

He  is  a  member  of  the  fraternal  order  of  the  Knights  of  Col- 
umbus and  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Monongahela, 
Columbus  and  Fort  Henry  clubs  and  is  also  interested  in  out- 
door sports  of  all  kinds. 

Mr.  Linehan  is  a  genial  and  wholesouled  man,  the  possessor 
of  a  winning  personality,  whose  friends  are  limited  only  by  the 
number  of  those  who  know  him,  and,  while  comparatively 
young  to  the  trade,  there  are  few  lumbermen  in  the  East  better 
or  more  favorably  known.  This  personal  popularity,  made 
permanent  by  respect,  is  an  important  factor  in  the  growing 
business  of  the  Linehan  Lumber  Company,  which  seems  likely 
to  be  a  permanent  factor  in  the  trade  of  the  East. 


1- 


n 

h  y    rests  up  i   of 

»c  contrary,  Mr.  Linehan  has  jd 

present  position  in  the  trade  by  a  of  the 

y  in  all  its  branches  and  by  a  practical  experi- 
ng  over  a  period  of  more  than  a  decade. 
As  far  as  can  be  learned,  Mr.  Linehan  did  not  inherit  his 
predilection  for  the  lumber  business,  his  father,  James  C.  Line- 
han, having  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel 
rails  at  the  time  when  young  James  C.  Linehan  was  arriving 
at  *y>f^  'fY^r  ^^rJcmn  which  would  govem  his  future  busi- 

^r    viK-rKf-r  inherited  or  acquired, 
in  the  prosecution  of  his 
luiiiut.  v-d  and  has  shown  itself  in 

the  firm  t  i  id^ia  growth  of  the  young  corpo- 

ration whiLii  L;cu.ii>  iiiit  lidtnc. 

James  C.  Linehan  was  born  in  Cumberland,  Maryland,  and 

»n  in  that  city,  attending  a  private  school. 

and  began  his  b 


the  ', 

now  the  W;  cr 

and  paymaster^ 


MAH3k^ii_  :vi  M.L 


JAMEIS     C.     LINEHAN 


James  C.  Linehan 


Among  the  lumbermen  of  the  East  James  C.  Linehan  is  con- 
spicuous as  a  man  who  has  obtained  success  in  his  chosen 
vocation  within  a  remarkably  short  time.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  commercial  status  of  the  junior  partner  in  the  Line- 
han Lumber  Company  rests  upon  a  mushroom  growth  of 
chance;  to  the  contrary,  Mr.  Linehan  has  thoroughly  qualified 
himself  for  his  present  position  in  the  trade  by  a  study  of  the 
lumber  industry  in  all  its  branches  and  by  a  practical  experi- 
ence extending  over  a  period  of  more  than  a  decade. 

As  far  as  can  be  learned,  Mr.  Linehan  did  not  inherit  his 
predilection  for  the  lumber  business,  his  father,  James  C.  Line- 
han, having  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel 
rails  at  the  time  when  young  James  C.  Linehan  was  arriving 
at  the  important  decision  which  would  govern  his  future  busi- 
ness operations.  However,  whether  inherited  or  acquired, 
the  ability  exhibited  by  Mr.  Linehan  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
lumber  enterprises  has  been  marked  and  has  shown  itself  in 
the  firm  establishment  and  rapid  growth  of  the  young  corpo- 
ration which  bears  his  name. 

James  C.  Linehan  was  born  in  Cumberland,  Maryland,  and 
received  his  education  in  that  city,  attending  a  private  school. 
He  had  natural  abihty  in  mechanical  lines  and  began  his  busi- 
ness career  in  the  employ  of  his  father,  who,  as  above  stated, 
was  a  manufacturer  of  rails.  This  business  of  the  elder  Line- 
han naturally  brought  him  and  his  sons  into  contact  with  rail- 
roads operating  in  that  territory,  and  in  1890  James  C.  Line- 
han entered  the  freight  and  traffic  department  of  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad.  Later,  he  transferred  his  services  to 
the  West  Virginia  Central  &  Pittsburg  Railway  Company, 
now  the  Western  Maryland  Railroad,  entering  the  cashier 
and  paymaster's  department. 


241 


242  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Believing  that  the  lumber  industry  offered  a  more  attract- 
ive field  for  a  profitable  exploitation  of  his  energy,  Mr.  Line- 
han  in  1895  resigned  his  position  with  the  West  Virginia 
Central  &  Pittsburg  Railway  Company  and  engaged  his  serv- 
ices with  the  Randolph  Lumber  Company,  a  manufacturer 
of  West  Virginia  hardwoods  and  located  at  Elkins,  Randolph 
County,  in  the  eastern  part  of  West  Virginia.  Mr.  Linehan 
did  not  begin  his  lumber  career  as  an  employee,  as  he  had 
purchased  an  interest  in  the  company.  He  found  the  new 
work  to  his  liking  and  adapted  to  his  ability,  and  he  therefore 
remained  at  the  West  Virginia  plant  until  1902,  in  which  year 
he  moved  to  Pittsburg,  and,  with  his  brother,  Joseph  J.  Line- 
han, assumed  charge  of  that  end  of  the  business  of  the  Cherry 
River  Boom  &  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Linehan  was  in 
personal  charge  of  the  office,  while  his  brother  was  on  the 
outside  working  directly  with  the  trade. 

So  successful  was  the  Pittsburg  business  that  the  two  Line- 
hans  decided  to  enter  the  field  on  their  own  account.  With 
this  purpose  in  view,  in  January,  1905,  they  organized  the 
Linehan  Lumber  Company,  which  in  effect  took  over  the 
business  of  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber  Company  in 
and  about  Pittsburg.  This  corporation,  while  new  under  its 
present  name,  began  with  an  established  business  and  with 
the  full  confidence  and  approval  of  the  Smoky  City  market. 

It  was  able  to  retain  the  business  formerly  controlled  by 
the  Pittsburg  office  of  the  Cherry  River  Boom  &  Lumber 
Company  and  constantly  acquired  new  customers.  At  pres- 
ent the  Linehan  Lumber  Company  has  an  output  of  about 
60,000  feet  a  day  of  hardwoods,  in  addition  to  a  quantity  of 
spruce,  hemlock  and  yellow  pine.  In  the  company's  opera- 
tions Mr.  Linehan  figures  as  the  financial  man  and  office  man- 
ager and  keeps  as  well  a  supervising  eye  on  the  sales  depart- 
ment. 

Mr.  Linehan  is  a  thorough  believer  in  the  value  of  south- 
ern stumpage,  and  the  profits  from  the  Pittsburg  business  are 
being   invested   in   hardwood   stumpage  in  various   sections 


JAMES  C.  LINEHAN  243 

south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line.  While  the  Linehan 
Lumber  Company  has  been  in  business  less  than  two  years,  it 
has  already  secured  a  number  of  hardwood  timber  properties 
and  undoubtedly  will  acquire  others  as  favorable  opportunities 
may  be  presented.  In  connection  with  its  timber  holdings 
the  company  has  acquired  considerable  coal  lands,  also. 

Mr.  Linehan  is  as  well  known  in  the  social  life  of  Pittsburg 
as  he  is  in  that  city's  business  circles.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  of  the  Columbus  Club  and  of  the  Pitts- 
burg Club,  and  while  he  says  that  his  favorite  recreation  is 
hard  work,  he  finds  time  for  the  social  duties  which  his  posi- 
tion entails.     In  religion  Mr.  Linehan  is  a  Roman  Catholic. 

While  one  of  the  younger  lumbermen  of  the  eastern  states, 
James  C.  Linehan  has  proved  himself  an  aggressive  and  force- 
ful factor  in  the  trade  east  and  west  of  the  Allegheny  Range. 
His  experience  in  connection  with  the  industry  has  been 
especially  fortunate  for  the  conduct  of  his  present  operations. 
His  connection  with  the  Randolph  Lumber  Company  gave 
him  a  good  insight  into  the  workings  of  the  hardwood  mills 
of  West  Virginia  and  he  thereby  also  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  lumber  manufacturing  business  of  the  South- 
east. This  experience  included  a  complete  mastery  of  various 
methods  of  manufacture,  the  result  of  which  is  that  he  is 
thoroughly  competent  to  judge  the  products  the  mills  have  to 
offer  to  his  concern  for  distribution  to  the  Pittsburg  trade. 
Since  1902  his  business  has  enabled  him  to  accurately  gauge 
the  requirements  of  the  consuming  trade  of  the  East  and  thus 
he  is  in  excellent  position  to  discriminate  among  manufac- 
turers and  select  stock  which  will  be  acceptable  to  the  trade 
in  his  territory. 

The  Linehan  brothers  are  admirably  suited  to  each  other 
In  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  their  corporation.  James  C. 
Linehan  has  always  favored  the  office  end  of  the  business  and 
has  proved  himself  conservative  yet  accurate  In  judging  the 
financial  standing  of  those  with  whom  the  Linehan  Lumber 
Company  has  had  occasion  to  do  business.    Joseph  J.  Linehan, 


244  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

on  the  contrary,  has  devoted  himself  to  the  trade  and  does  not 
care  for  the  routine  of  the  office.  The  combination  is  a  happy 
one  and  its  results  are  shown  in  the  rapid  development  of  the 
business  of  the  Linehan  Lumber  Company. 


Lh  Enochs 


IICVC 

has  done  and  is  are  the  results  of 
e  and  persistence,  guided  by  a  mind  of  remarkably 
A  quality — a  mind  which  is  content  with  no  half  knowl- 
edge or  half  statement,  but  which  insists  upon  knowledge  as 
complete  as  can  be  secured  as  the  basis  from  which  a  policy 
may  develop  with  logical  accuracy.  These  qualities  have 
given  Mr.  Enochs  much  success  in  a  business  way  and  an  in- 
fluence among  his  fellows  which  is  equaled  by  but  few.  He 
is  not  an  nmfnr  for  his  voice  does  not  carry  far  and  his  speech 
v>vi  n  hr  tnlks  in  pubUc  on  any  subject,  no  one  in 

y  is  listened  to  with  closer  attention, 
^^'ith  thoughtful  care  and  his  counsel 

>crience. 

;  of  \Iis<~*' '■'•^•■'*  l'^»■^^•  iro  {he  f^niiW 


ic    c 


Lilt    i_»aj(v^<. 


vy  <i3    a 


mc  uiiiiiy  IS  oLULcii-Insh 

cnt  in  this  genera- 

oi  eleven  children  on 

:talsprings,    Copiah 

7,  1852.     It  was  at  the 

rican  Civil  War  that  the 

boy  o  e  guardian  of  five  younger 

children  and  the  c  1  whom  his  mother,  Rebecca 


MA 


3HOOM3  3UaMU-JOO  OAASI 


ISAAC     COLUMBUS     ENOCHS 


Isaac  C.  Enochs 


Every  human  organization  must  have  its  leaders.  Some 
are  eminent  in  peace,  some  in  war;  some  lead  in  council  and 
some  in  action.  Among  the  admitted  leaders  in  the  councils 
of  the  great  southern  lumber  manufacturing  industry  is  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Isaac  Columbus  Enochs,  of  Jackson, 
Mississippi.  There  is  nothing  brilliant  about  his  achievements 
or  personality,  but  what  he  has  done  and  is  are  the  results  of 
rare  patience  and  persistence,  guided  by  a  mind  of  remarkably 
logical  quality — a  mind  which  is  content  with  no  half  knowl- 
edge or  half  statement,  but  which  insists  upon  knowledge  as 
complete  as  can  be  secured  as  the  basis  from  which  a  policy 
may  develop  with  logical  accuracy.  These  qualities  have 
given  Mr.  Enochs  much  success  in  a  business  way  and  an  in- 
fluence among  his  fellows  which  is  equaled  by  but  few.  He 
is  not  an  orator,  for  his  voice  does  not  carry  far  and  his  speech 
is  slow;  but  when  he  talks  in  public  on  any  subject,  no  one  in 
the  whole  South  country  is  listened  to  with  closer  attention, 
for  every  word  is  chosen  with  thoughtful  care  and  his  counsel 
comes  out  of  study  and  experience. 

Among  the  first  settlers  of  Mississippi  appears  the  family 
name  of  Enochs.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  the  lumber- 
man of  the  present  moved  from  Tennessee  to  the  Bayou  State 
in  the  early  '20's,  and  the  maternal  grandfather,  also,  was  a 
pioneer  planter.  The  ancestry  of  the  family  is  Scotch-Irish 
and  the  strong  traits  of  the  race  are  apparent  in  this  genera- 
tion. Isaac  Columbus  was  the  firstborn  of  eleven  children  on 
the  plantation  of  his  father,  near  Crystalsprings,  Copiah 
County,  his  natal  day  being  March  7,  1852.  It  was  at  the 
opening  of  the  dark  days  of  the  American  Civil  War  that  the 
boy  of  nine  years  found  himself  the  guardian  of  five  younger 
children  and  the  only  one  upon  whom  his  mother,  Rebecca 


245 


246  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Black  Enochs,  could  depend  for  assistance  In  looking  after  the 
plantation  in  the  absence  of  the  husband  and  father.  It  was 
his  first  taste  of  responsibility  and  it  brought  out  all  his  latent 
manliness.  Frequently  did  this  lad  marshal  the  other  children 
on  the  plantation,  when  danger  threatened  in  the  shape  of 
raiding  troopers,  and  drive  the  cattle  into  the  swamps,  re- 
maining on  guard  all  night  if  occasion  should  require. 

Little  schooling  was  to  be  obtained  in  the  days  before  and 
immediately  following  the  close  of  the  war.  The  country  was 
impoverished  as  the  result  of  the  long  conflict,  and  the  schools 
were  few  and  their  training  of  an  indefinite  character.  Young 
Enochs'  ambition  was  to  become  a  lawyer,  but  the  opportu- 
nity to  study  was  limited  because  of  the  necessity  of  working 
long  hours  to  help  support  the  family.  In  1871  he  left  the 
plantation  to  keep  books  for  his  uncle  in  the  latter's  store  at 
Bolton  Depot,  between  Vicksburg  and  Jackson.  He  worked 
faithfully  for  a  year  and  a  half  and  then  gave  up  the  position  to 
become  station  agent  at  Bolton  for  the  Vicksburg  &  Meridian 
Railroad  Company.  He  aspired  to  save  enough  money  from 
his  salary  to  pay  for  a  law  course  in  college.  But  he  was 
doomed  to  disappointment,  for  a  contingency  arose  that  forced 
him  into  the  lumber  business.  Mr.  Enochs'  father  had  in- 
dorsed paper  for  an  owner  of  a  portable  mill,  and,  as  the  note 
could  not  be  met,  the  property  was  surrendered.  The  young 
railroad  agent  agreed  to  operate  the  mill  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  $1,000  for  his  long  anticipated  law  tuition.  So,  on 
January  10,  1873,  the  young  man  became  proprietor  of  the 
mill,  which  was  situated  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Crys- 
talsprings.  The  latter  town  was  destroyed  by  fire  that  night 
and  a  decidedly  heavy  demand  for  lumber  was  created. 
Seemingly,  it  was  to  be  a  profitable  investment,  but  a  serious 
reverse  was  met  with  when  a  boiler  explosion  wrecked  the 
plant.  Bravely  the  owner  set  about  to  replace  the  mill,  though 
the  loss  of  $2,000  occasioned  by  the  disaster  was  a  hard  blow. 
In  March,  1874,  the  mill  was  running  again  with  its  capacity 
increased  from  6,000  to  10,000  feet  a  day.     A  planing  mill  was 


ISAAC  C.  ENOCHS  247 

added  in  another  year,  but  the  saws  and  planers  could  not  be 
run  at  one  time  through  a  lack  of  boiler  power. 

A  partnership  was  formed  by  Mr.  Enochs  with  his  brother, 
J.  L.  Enochs,  in  1876,  and,  by  dint  of  hard  work,  a  profit  of 
between  $3,000  and  $4,000  was  made.  Misfortune  came  in 
the  following  year,  when  fire  swept  the  saw  and  planing  mills 
and  wiped  out  the  capital  of  the  two  young  men.  J.  L.  Enochs 
went  to  farming,  but  Isaac,  nothing  daunted,  contracted  for 
480  acres  of  timber  land  and  built  another  mill  two  miles  from 
the  site  of  the  original  plant.  Operations  began  in  1877,  and 
the  first  shipments  made  were  of  car  sills  and  decking  to  a 
point  north  of  the  Ohio  River.  With  the  new  mill  a  success, 
he  purchased  in  1880  a  tract  of  timber  in  Pike  County  and 
erected  a  second  mill,  the  two  cutting  about  40,000  feet  a  day. 
His  first  logging  road — a  tramway  over  which  mules  pulled 
trucks — was  built  in  1881,  though  two  years  later  this  road  was 
equipped  with  wooden  rails  and  a  locomotive. 

Assistance  in  managing  the  expanding  business  was  given 
Mr.  Enochs  by  his  brothers,  and  several  portable  mills  were 
run  in  the  yellow  pine  belt  of  Mississippi.  Headquarters  were 
established  at  Jackson,  where,  in  1884,  a  yard  was  opened  and 
conducted  by  E.  A.  Enochs.  The  firm  of  Enochs  Bros,  was 
organized  in  1887,  and  of  this  firm  I.  C,  J.  L.  and  P.  H. 
Enochs  still  are  members.  The  senior  member  of  the  firm 
was  progressive  and  seized  every  opportunity  to  enlarge  the 
business.  In  1890  a  sawmill  and  a  sash,  door  and  blind  factory 
were  erected  at  Jackson.  The  Enochs  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany was  incorporated  a  year  later  and  Mr.  Enochs  was  made 
the  president,  and  today  the  company  has  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  equipped  plants  in  the  South.  Another  of  the 
Enochs  interests  is  the  sawmills  located  at  Fernwood,  eighty 
miles  south  of  Jackson,  where  the  band  mills  have  a  capacity 
of  25,000,000  feet  a  year,  Enochs  Bros,   handling  the  output. 

Besides  these  interests  Mr.  Enochs  was  until  recently  secre- 
tary of  the  Banner  Lumber  Company,  which  was  incorporated 
in  1895  and  operated  mills,  with  an  annual  capacity  of  15,000,- 


248  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

000  feet,  at  Kentwood,  Louisiana.  This  company  went  out 
of  existence  when  it  was  succeeded  some  time  ago  by  the 
Brooks,  Scanlon  Company.  The  firm  of  Enochs  Bros.,  the 
Fernwood  concern  and  the  Banner  Lumber  Company  owned 
about  100,000  acres  of  timber  and  probably  as  much  more 
cutover  land  in  Pike  and  Marion  counties,  Mississippi,  and 
Tangipahoa  and  Washington  parishes  in  Louisiana;  and,  when 
the  Great  Southern  Lumber  Company,  at  Bogalusa,  Louisiana, 
was  formed  and  secured  the  cooperation  of  L  C.  Enochs  in 
the  development  of  its  properties,  the  Enochs  brothers  sold 
some  of  their  timber  holdings  to  that  company,  in  return  for 
stock  in  the  new  enterprise.  In  the  Great  Southern  company 
L  C.  Enochs  is  a  director.  To  it  and  to  the  Fernwood  and 
Pearl  River  lumber  companies  he  devotes  the  larger  part  of 
his  activity.  Mr.  Enochs  is  a  managing  director  in  the  Fern- 
wood Lumber  Company  and  is  president  of  the  Pearl  River 
Lumber  Company,  the  latter  manufacturing  from  80,000,000 
to  85,000,000  feet  annually. 

Mr.  Enochs  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  work 
of  the  Yellow  Pine  Manufacturers'  Association.  He  became  a 
director  of  the  organization  in  1893  ^^^  was  elected  president 
in  1898,  being  reelected  in  1899.  He  has  been  conspicuous  in 
agitations  for  reductions  in  railroad  rates,  has  consistently 
labored  for  the  yellow  pine  industry  and  has  won  the  greatest 
respect  and  deepest  confidence  of  the  manufacturers  of  the 
South.  An  instance  of  his  persistency  in  this  line  in  late 
years  was  given  when  the  railroad  companies  raised  the  rate 
two  cents  from  all  points  based  on  the  Ohio  River  crossings. 
With  the  assistance  of  other  manufacturers  he  fought  the  ad- 
vance and  was  rewarded  by  having  the  former  rate  restored. 

Mr.  Enochs  wedded  Miss  Margaret  Elizabeth  Catchings, 
a  native  of  Copiah  County,  Mississippi,  whom  he  had  known 
from  childhood,  June  26,  1879.  Their  family  consists  of  five 
children— Mary  Capers,  Martha  Catchings,  Edwina,  Isaac  J., 
Junior,  and  Lucy  Enochs.  Mr.  Enochs  is  a  member  of  the 
Capitol  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  Jackson. 


Clifford 


It  h.is  been  r  average  man 

docs   not   ?.  tal    and    physical 

devel' 


. -_uowing 

.   .  .  i :icd  success,  a  case  in 

.  A.  Bonds,  of  Jackson,  Mississippi. 
X  v.<i  .^ii  years  Mr.  Bonds  was  engaged  in  the  railroad  busi- 
ness, being  connected  with  the  freight  departments  of  two 
southern  lines,  and  it  was  in  that  position  that  he  gained  an 
insight  into  the  lumber  industry.  His  connection  with  the  lum- 
ber trade  began  in  1896,  when  he  entered  into  a  wholesale 
business  that  has  been  continually  growing  in  volume.  His 
1      '  'a  decade  were   extended  from  the 

St,  where  he  is  at  the  head  of  a  con- 

?  of  trade  in  lumber  and  shingles. 

"  of  the  '  ,  having  been 


\»     I         V_'  1         X_-/  1 


t  County,  Ml 

mbers  of  the 

'8  in  1800,  settling 


T  ? 


e  owners  and 

■^  the 


i  iiL  s  were  people  of  education  and 

refinemci n  atmosphere  that  he  was  reared. 


aanoa    ctuhtfia   qro^ti-io 


CLIFFORD     ARTHUR     BONDS 


Clifford  A.  Bonds 


It  has  been  practically  demonstrated  that  the  average  man 
does  not  attain  the  highest  point  of  mental  and  physical 
development  until  he  has  reached  the  two-score  mark  in  years, 
and  that  his  powers  do  not  begin  to  wane  for  many  years  there- 
after. So  it  is  possible  that  a  man  entering  a  new  field  of 
endeavor  after  having  spent  his  earlier  years  in  following 
another  vocation  may  gain  an  unqualified  success,  a  case  in 
point  being  the  career  of  C.  A.  Bonds,  of  Jackson,  Mississippi. 

For  ten  years  Mr.  Bonds  was  engaged  in  the  railroad  busi- 
ness, being  connected  with  the  freight  departments  of  two 
southern  lines,  and  it  was  in  that  position  that  he  gained  an 
insight  into  the  lumber  industry.  His  connection  with  the  lum- 
ber trade  began  in  1896,  when  he  entered  into  a  wholesale 
business  that  has  been  continually  growing  in  volume.  His 
lumber  interests  within  a  decade  were  extended  from  the 
South  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  where  he  is  at  the  head  of  a  con- 
cern doing  a  large  volume  of  trade  in  lumber  and  shingles. 

Clifford  Arthur  Bonds  is  a  native  of  the  South,  having  been 
born  July  13,  1869,  at  Forest,  Scott  County,  Mississippi.  He 
is  the  son  of  Richard  Wesley  Bonds  and  Mattie  (Harris) 
Bonds.  The  early  members  of  the  Bonds  family  were  English, 
who  came  to  the  United  States  in  1800,  settling  in  the  South. 
Mr.  Bonds'  father  held  office  under  the  Government  during 
the  reconstruction  days  and  was  chancery  circuit  clerk  and 
treasurer  for  Scott  County  for  a  period  of  thirty-six  years. 
Members  of  the  Harris  family  were  large  slave  owners  and 
the  largest  cotton  planters  in  middle  Mississippi  before  the 
Civil  War,  but  upon  the  close  of  that  internecine  strife  the 
family  moved  to  Texas. 

The  parents  of  Mr.  Bonds  were  people  of  education  and 
refinement  and  it  was  in  such  an  atmosphere  that  he  was  reared. 

249 


250  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Forest  being  the  county  seat  of  Scott  County,  the  town 
had  educational  facilities  that  were  not  afforded  the  youth  of 
smaller  places  in  the  district.  Young  Bonds  acquired  his 
schooling  in  the  public  schools  of  the  town,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years  was  possessed  of  a  fair  education,  but  had  no 
desire  to  take  a  college  course,  being  anxious  to  begin  the 
battle  of  life. 

He  chose  a  railroad  career  for  himself,  and  his  first  exper- 
ience in  this  line  was  as  freight  agent  for  the  Alabama  & 
Vicksburg  Railway,  at  Lake,  a  small  town  in  the  eastern  part 
of  Scott  County.  He  was  not  disappointed  in  the  opportunities 
afforded  for  activity  and  advancement,  and  from  1886,  when 
he  first  took  up  the  work,  until  1896  he  was  promoted  succes- 
sively to  more  important  posts.  From  the  Alabama  &  Vicks- 
burg Railway  he  went  with  the  Queen  &  Crescent  Route  and 
was  stationed  in  the  traffic  department  at  Ruston  and  Monroe, 
Louisiana,  and  Vicksburg,  Meridian  and  Jackson,  Mississippi. 
During  the  ten  years  he  was  a  railroad  man  Mr.  Bonds  was 
brought  into  close  association  with  lumbermen  throughout 
the  South,  the  lumber  traffic  of  the  railroads  forming  no  in- 
considerable proportion  of  the  entire  tonnage  emanating  from 
the  points  where  he  made  his  headquarters.  From  a  mere 
handling  of  that  business  he  studied  the  sources  and  distribu- 
tion of  lumber  until  he  was  familiar  with  many  of  its  details. 

A  desire  to  enter  into  the  lumber  business  eventually 
resolved  itself  into  a  determination  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Bonds, 
and  he  mapped  out  a  policy  from  which  he  has  not  departed. 
Realization  of  his  plans  took  place  September  i,  1896,  when 
he  severed  his  connection  with  the  Queen  &  Crescent  Route 
to  launch  a  wholesale  business  under  his  own  name.  By 
reason  of  his  association  as  a  traffic  man  with  lumber  manu- 
facturers he  was  enabled  at  the  start  to  form  connections  for 
stocks  of  yellow  pine  and  cypress  lumber  and  cypress  shingles. 
He  had  sufficient  capital  to  permit  of  his  carrying  on  business 
unhampered  and  within  a  few  years  he  had  formed  an  organ- 
ization that  reflected  great  credit  upon  his  abilities. 


CLIFFORD  A.  BONDS  251 

An  advantage  possessed  by  Mr.  Bonds  in  the  conduct  of 
his  business  is  his  thorough  knowledge  of  rates  and  routing, 
a  knowledge  that  came  to  him  in  his  ten  years  as  a  railroad 
official.  He  is  personally  acquainted  with  practically  every 
prominent  railroad  traffic  manager  in  the  United  States.  Be- 
cause of  his  familiarity  with  rates  and  routing  Mr.  Bonds  fre- 
quently has  been  able,  by  taking  advantage  of  various  com- 
binations and  by  reconsignments,  to  make  up  lower  rates  for 
his  shipments  than  the  pubHshed  through  rates.  Mr.  Bonds 
has  pushed  the  business  energetically  and  has  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  it  grow  to  good  proportions.  The  red  cypress 
shingle  business  carried  on  by  him  aggregates  alone  about 
2,000  cars  a  year.  He  is  interested  financially  in  several 
cypress  shingle  plants  in  Louisiana,  so  that  he  is  not  confined 
to  the  selling  of  odd  stocks  as  a  wholesaler,  but  is  able  to  sell 
direct  from  the  mills. 

Though  largely  interested  in  Louisiana  mills,  Mr.  Bonds 
has  within  recent  years  widened  the  scope  of  his  operations 
and  has  extensive  interests  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  where  he  is  at 
the  head  of  a  wholesale  concern.  The  latter  is  the  Bonds- 
Foster  Lumber  Company,  which  began  business  January  i, 
1905.  Mr.  Bonds  is  president  of  the  company;  E.  A.  Foster, 
vice  president,  and  H.  A.  Bonds,  secretary  and  treasurer.  In 
its  first  year  of  business  the  Bonds-Foster  company  built  up  an 
excellent  wholesale  trade  in  fir,  pine,  spruce  and  shingles  from 
its  headquarters  in  Seattle,  Washington.  Mr.  Bonds,  while 
making  his  home  in  the  South  and  looking  after  his  cypress 
business  in  that  section  of  the  country,  takes  much  interest  in 
the  Seattle  business  and  makes  frequent  trips  to  the  Coast.  In 
the  spring  of  1906  Mr.  Bonds  paid  a  protracted  visit  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  and  inspected  a  large  tract  of  fir  and  red  cedar 
timber  near  Port  Townsend,  Washington.  Following  this 
inspection  he  bought  10,000  acres  of  timber  for  the  purpose 
of  developing  the  property.  The  plans  in  connection  with 
the  purchase  of  the  timber  and  its  working  provide  for  the 
building  of  a  combination  mill  of  a  daily  capacity  of  200,000 


252  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

feet  of  lumber  and  250,000  shingles  and  the  marketing  of  the 
product  through  the  Bonds-Foster  Lumber  Company.  Mr. 
Bonds  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  permanency  of  the  growth  of 
the  industry  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  though  it  is  unlikely  he  will 
desert  the  South  country  until  the  cypress  investments  he  has 
there  shall  become  exhausted. 

Mr.  Bonds  was  married  on  July  28,  1891,  to  Miss  Bessie 
B.  Richards,  of  Canton,  Mississippi.  Their  children  are 
Marguerite,  aged  thirteen,  Elizabeth,  aged  eleven,  and  Clif- 
ford A.  Bonds,  Junior,  aged  eight  years.  The  family  occupies 
a  delightful  home  in  Jackson  and  takes  part  in  the  social  life  of 
that  city. 

Mr.  Bonds  has  been  an  extremely  active  worker  all  his  life 
and  devotes  his  energies  entirely  to  the  matter  he  has  in  hand 
to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  He  is  a  master  of  detail, 
and  in  an  executive  capacity  he  has  a  faculty  of  disposing  of 
innumerable  details  that  is  surprising  to  those  who  are  not 
familiar  with  his  methods.  He  has  little  time  to  give  to  frater- 
nal or  social  organizations,  spending  what  leisure  he  has  in 
the  company  of  his  wife  and  children.  He  is  affiliated  with 
the  Methodist  Church  and  has  given  freely  to  its  charities. 
He  has  never  become  interested  enough  in  politics  to  seek 
office. 

Outside  of  his  lumber  interests  Mr.  Bonds  is  president  of 
the  Security  Trust  &  Banking  Company,  of  Jackson,  and  a 
director  of  the  Mississippi  Bank  &  Trust  Company,  also  of 
Jackson. 


Herbe^*    \.  Camp 


Th.r  man  >  genera- 

tion, IS  an  tudc,  but 

in  m  i, 

'O 

^  ot   the   men  t 
y  IS  this  true  in  the  longleaf  yeiiow  pmc 

c  in  the  field  has 

ot  )  is  Herbert  A. 

p,  of  Lumberton,  iV  ppi,  a  pioneer  in   its  general 

tion. 

He  is  a  southerner  of  the  distinctive  type,  having  been  born 

in  the  Cracker  State,  where  he  was  reared,  and  for  two  decades 

identified  with  the  lumber  industry  of  Mississippi.     When  he 

began  his  experience  as  a  producer  of  yellow  pine,  the  intrinsic 

merits  of  that  wood  had  not  been  accorded  just  recognition  in 

thp  markers  of  the  country,  and  Mr.  Camp  is  one  of  the  manu- 

h  credit  is  due  for  widening  its  sphere 

•  vpars  he  has  been  operating  in 

v-hnno-es  in  the  lumber  in- 

nm<-e  values  and  the 

Fit  a 

direct  i  ^>i»o 

:  was 


...1 


u 


VY  xiiLc,  wjiu  came 


J 

P 

to  attord 

that  section  ot  i 


nil  ut  irciaiid.     H.  A.  Camp  was 

'  '•m  of  his  father,  at  Mulberry, 

1  he   head   of   the    family  was  a 

and  operator,  so  that  he  was  able 

icational  advantages  offered  in 

ung  Herbert  learned  his  earlier 


ciMAO     Y>-nJa8A     TH3aFI3H 


f 


HERBERT     ASBURY     CAMP 


Herbert  A.  Camp 


The  manufacture  of  lumber,  as  carried  on  In  this  genera- 
tion, is  an  evolution  not  alone  in  methods  and  magnitude,  but 
in  men  as  well.  As  the  volume  of  business  has  expanded, 
making  heavier  demands  on  producers  and  on  facilities,  so 
have  the  capabilities  and  resources  of  the  men  in  control 
broadened.  Particularly  is  this  true  in  the  longleaf  yellow  pine 
industry.  One  of  the  men  whose  prominence  in  the  field  has 
increased  with  the  exploitation  of  yellow  pine  is  Herbert  A. 
Camp,  of  Lumberton,  Mississippi,  a  pioneer  in  its  general 
distribution. 

He  is  a  southerner  of  the  distinctive  type,  having  been  born 
in  the  Cracker  State,  where  he  was  reared,  and  for  two  decades 
identified  with  the  lumber  industry  of  Mississippi.  When  he 
began  his  experience  as  a  producer  of  yellow  pine,  the  intrinsic 
merits  of  that  wood  had  not  been  accorded  just  recognition  in 
the  markets  of  the  country,  and  Mr.  Camp  is  one  of  the  manu- 
facturers to  whom  much  credit  is  due  for  widening  its  sphere 
of  usefulness.  In  the  many  years  he  has  been  operating  in 
the  South  he  has  witnessed  great  changes  in  the  lumber  in- 
dustry, including  the  advancement  of  stumpage  values  and  the 
elevation  of  yellow  pine  to  a  position  of  indisputable  stability. 
Herbert  Asbury  Camp  is  the  son  of  D.  A.  Camp,  who  was  a 
direct  descendant  of  a  Virginia  family  of  twenty-one  sons  who 
settled  in  nearly  as  many  states  of  the  Union.  His  mother  was 
Anna  (White)  Camp,  a  daughter  of  Robert  White,  who  came 
to  the  Republic  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  H.  A.  Camp  was 
born  June  lo,  1859,  on  the  farm  of  his  father,  at  Mulberry, 
Jackson  County,  Georgia.  The  head  of  the  family  was  a 
prosperous  plantation  owner  and  operator,  so  that  he  was  able 
to  afford  his  son  the  best  educational  advantages  offered  in 
that  section  of  the  country.    Young  Herbert  learned  his  earlier 

263 


254  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

lessons  at  the  knee  of  his  mother,  later  being  sent  to  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  county.  He  grew  into  a  strong,  healthy 
lad  full  of  the  fun  and  spirit  of  the  country  youth.  His  father 
was  bent  on  having  him  become  a  farmer  on  a  scientific  scale 
and  follow  that  as  his  life's  work.  Accordingly,  when  the 
youth  had  gained  an  elementary  education  in  the  public 
schools  he  was  sent  to  the  North  Georgia  Agricultural  Col- 
lege, a  branch  of  the  State  University,  at  Dahlonega,  Lumpkin 
County,  Georgia,  where  he  pursued  a  course  of  studies  for 
several  years  and  then  returned  to  the  old  homestead  at  Mul- 
berry. 

In  the  territory  adjacent  to  the  acres  owned  by  the  senior 
Camp  was  considerable  yellow  pine  timber  that  was  being 
operated  in  a  primitive  manner.  In  those  early  days  the 
hundreds  of  improved  appliances  of  the  woods  and  mill  in  use 
today  were  unknown  and  unthought  of,  the  timber  being 
felled,  sawed  into  logs  and  cut  into  lumber  by  small  circular 
mills.  Young  Camp  became  interested  in  a  small  operation 
in  which  his  father  had  an  investment,  and  from  this  beginning 
he  undoubtedly  acquired  a  liking  for  the  lumber  business  and 
gained  an  incentive  to  engage  in  the  production  of  lumber  on 
a  larger  scale. 

Going  to  Lumberton,  Mississippi,  where  an  awakening  in 
the  lumber  field  was  under  way,  Mr.  Camp,  with  J.  H.  Hinton 
and  R.  W.  Hinton,  began  investing  in  longleaf  timbered 
lands,  which  were  then  to  be  obtained  at  a  low  price.  The 
Hintons  were  north  Georgians  themselves  and  were  of  the 
same  rugged,  forceful,  industrious  nature  as  Mr.  Camp.  The 
firm  of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros,  was  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  on  a  milling  business.  One  of  their  first  purchases 
of  timber  was  a  tract  of  1,200  acres  located  near  Lumberton, 
this  small  acreage  forming  the  nucleus  of  the  immense  stump- 
age  to  be  controlled  later  by  the  same  interests.  The  original 
tract  of  1,200  acres  was  bought  from  the  Government  at  the 
low  price  of  $1.25  an  acre. 

For  the  purpose  of  operating  on  the  timber  secured,  Mr. 


HERBERT  A.  CAMP  255 

Camp  and  his  associates  built  a  small  Lane  &  Bodley  mill  in 
the  woods  about  a  mile  west  and  north  of  the  railroad  station 
at  Lumberton,  where  they  proceeded  to  manufacture  lumber 
of  more  or  less  uncertain  grades.  The  mill,  which  was  com- 
pleted and  put  into  operation  in  1886,  when  run  to  its  capacity 
cut  about  15,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day,  and  the  plant  might 
aptly  be  termed  a  toy  in  comparison  with  the  immense  and 
modernly  equipped  plants  operated  by  the  same  men  in  later 
years.  The  Lumberton  mill  and  that  small  tract  of  timber 
marked  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Camp's  activity  in  the  lumber 
industry  of  Mississippi. 

Within  a  few  years  the  firm  of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros,  had 
added  largely  to  the  holdings  of  timber,  increased  the  milling 
facilities  and  begun  to  reach  out  for  wider  markets  than  those 
afforded  in  the  South.  Northern  markets  were  sought  and 
much  of  the  product  of  the  firm  was  diverted  to  other  points. 
In  1892  the  small  mill  at  Lumberton  was  replaced  by  a  modern 
plant,  and  in  subsequent  years  mills  were  acquired  at  Garri- 
sons, another  one  in  Marion  County  and  a  fourth  at  Elder,  all 
in  Mississippi.  The  firm  of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Camp  &  Hinton,  and,  finally,  by  the  Camp  &  Hin- 
ton Company,  June  10,  1899,  a  forward  step  that  marked  a 
new  era  in  the  career  of  the  progressive  concern. 

Mr.  Camp  continued  active  with  the  Camp  &  Hinton 
Company  in  the  manufacture  of  longleaf  yellow  pine  until 
1902,  when  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  that  concern  and  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Pole  Stock  Lumber  Company,  of 
Hattiesburg,  Mississippi.  Mr.  Camp  was  elected  president 
of  the  company.  The  other  officers  are  W.  Edmiston,  vice 
president;  E.  A.  Sanford,  treasurer;  P.  C.  Edmiston,  secre- 
tary, and  W.  E.  Herren,  general  manager.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $100,000,  all  of  which  is  paid  in. 

The  Pole  Stock  Lumber  Company  bought  40,000  acres  of 
yellow  pine  timbered  land  in  the  Lumberton  district,  where  is 
found  some  of  the  finest  timber  in  Mississippi.  Additional 
tracts  have  been  bought  by  the  company  until  it  holds  title  to 


256  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

50,000  acres.  In  1903  the  company  absorbed  the  Hattiesburg 
Lumber  Company,  whose  officers  were  substantially  the  same 
as  those  of  the  Pole  Stock  Lumber  Company.  The  concern's 
name  is  illustrative  of  the  nature  of  the  business  originally 
undertaken.  This  was  the  cutting  of  rough  material,  dry 
kilning  it  and  cutting  and  working  it  into  poles,  shafts  and 
frames  for  agricultural  implements  of  every  pattern.  It  was 
demonstrated  that  yellow  pine  was  an  excellent  substitute  for 
ash,  which,  up  to  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  company, 
had  been  used  almost  exclusively  for  such  stock. 

The  company  has  contracts  with  about  twenty  different 
mills  to  manufacture  their  timber  into  agricultural  implement 
stock,  which  it  is  shipping  to  practically  all  the  manufacturers 
of  agricultural  implements  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  also 
shipping  quite  a  quantity  of  this  material  to  Europe  to  various 
manufacturers  there.  The  volume  of  business  transacted 
monthly  aggregates  about  $100,000. 

Mr.  Camp  is  interested  in  several  financial  institutions  of 
the  Magnolia  State,  being  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Lumberton  and  president  of  the  Hattiesburg  Trust  & 
Banking  Company.  His  long  residence  in  the  State  and  his 
intimate  association  with  the  lumber  industry  has  resulted  in 
his  becoming  interested  in  numerous  enterprises.  He  is  a 
liberal  supporter  of  any  movement  looking  toward  the  better- 
ment of  industrial  conditions. 

Mr.  Camp  married  Miss  Maxcy  Field,  at  Cartersville, 
Georgia,  February  5,  1885.  To  the  couple  have  been  born 
eight  children  —  five  boys  and  three  girls — Alleen,  Herbert  A., 
Junior,  Richard  F.,  Anna  Maxcy,  Lidie  Belle,  Chauncey  D., 
Pierpont  M.  and  Howard. 

Mr.  Camp  is  affiliated  with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  order  and  the  Concatenated  Order 
of  Hoo-Hoo.  If  Mr.  Camp  has  a  fad  it  truly  may  be  said  it  is 
a  liking  for  a  horse  fast  enough  to  surpass  the  speed  of  any 
other  animal  it  may  meet  on  the  road. 


John  H.  Hinton 


•_  .t 


'  -  ---il  being 

lO  s 


and  body,  is  one  by  whom 

glected,  and  who  has   fitted 

I  to  resist  and  to  achieve  in  the  battle  of  life. 

n    H.  Hinton  is   a    descendant   of   two   distinguished 

southern  families.     Wood  Hinton,  his  paternal  grandfather, 

was  a  Virginian  by  birth  who  settled  in  the  north  of  Georgia, 

where  Mansfield  Hinton,  John's  father,  was  born  and  reared. 

His  mother,  Elizabeth  (White)  Hinton,  was  the  daughter  of 

an  Irishman  who,  after  being  educated  in  Scotland,  came  to 

the  United  States  and,  with  relatives,  built  the  first  cotton  mill 

.7.     John  Hammond  Hinton 
■.  nine  miles  from  JeflFerson,  the 
(  GeortTJa.   March  25,    1857. 

i'   -  r^hntiition  dotted 

with  t'  ew  Jersey, 

apart  ..  -  »ct'^^d  and 

....wvi  possessions  of  Mr.  Hinton  and  his  ui^i...Ci, 


—  "y  seat,  with  its  courthouse  and  stores, 
5  as  young  Hinton  was  to  know  for 
iiidiiy  s  birth.     It  was  in  the  school  at  this 

quaint  oxa  i  >t  his  early  training,  though  it  was 

not  much  of  an  '      war  had  brought  its  privations 

and  the  services  01  inc  i»<  '      -thy  lad  were  needed  to  cul- 

tivate the  plantation,     i  I  not  smile  brightly  upon 


3&V 
MOTMIH     aHOMMAH     HHOU 


JOHN     HAMMOND     HINTON 


John  H.  Hinton 


To  the  man  who  cultivates  both  brain  and  physical  being 
to  such  a  high  state  of  perfection  that  he  may  seize  every  op- 
portunity and,  unflinchingly  and  unembarassed,  develop  their 
possibilities  to  the  highest  point,  the  w^orld  owes  much  for  its 
commercial  advancement.  John  Hammond  Hinton,  of  Lum- 
berton,  Mississippi,  stalwart  in  mind  and  body,  is  one  by  whom 
opportunity  never  has  been  neglected,  and  who  has  fitted 
himself  well  to  resist  and  to  achieve  in  the  battle  of  life. 

John  H.  Hinton  is  a  descendant  of  two  distinguished 
southern  families.  Wood  Hinton,  his  paternal  grandfather, 
was  a  Virginian  by  birth  who  settled  in  the  north  of  Georgia, 
where  Mansfield  Hinton,  John's  father,  was  born  and  reared. 
His  mother,  Elizabeth  (White)  Hinton,  was  the  daughter  of 
an  Irishman  who,  after  being  educated  in  Scotland,  came  to 
the  United  States  and,  with  relatives,  built  the  first  cotton  mill 
in  Georgia,  near  Athens,  in  1827.  John  Hammond  Hinton 
was  born  on  the  old  homestead,  nine  miles  from  Jefferson,  the 
county  seat  of  Jackson  County,  Georgia,  March  25,  1857. 
One  of  his  earliest  recollections  is  of  that  plantation  dotted 
with  the  white  tents  pitched  by  a  regiment  from  New  Jersey, 
a  part  of  General  Sherman's  command.  The  homestead  and 
its  300  acres,  forty  of  which  are  covered  with  virgin  timber,  is 
one  of  the  cherished  possessions  of  Mr.  Hinton  and  his  brother, 
R.  W.  Hinton. 

Jefferson,  the  county  seat,  with  its  courthouse  and  stores, 
was  as  near  a  metropolis  as  young  Hinton  was  to  know  for 
many  years  following  his  birth.  It  was  in  the  school  at  this 
quaint  old  town  that  he  got  his  early  training,  though  it  was 
not  much  of  an  education,  for  war  had  brought  its  privations 
and  the  services  of  the  strong,  healthy  lad  were  needed  to  cul- 
tivate the  plantation.     Fortune  did  not  smile  brightly  upon 

257 


2s8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  lad  in  his  early  days,  and  he  knew  what  it  was  to  struggle 
for  a  living  even  after  he  had  reached  manhood. 

Texas,  about  which  little  was  known  in  those  days,  ap- 
pealed to  the  youth  as  affording  an  opportunity  for  one  of  his 
brawn  and  ambition.  His  choice  was  determined  when  he 
was  told  a  man  could  earn  $20  a  month  there  for  the  poor- 
est sort  of  labor.  So,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  young 
Hinton  started  for  the  land  of  promise  to  the  westward.  His 
first  experience  was  as  a  farm  hand  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri, 
and,  later,  he  reached  Sherman,  Texas,  then  a  boom  town, 
only  to  move  on  to  Melissa,  twenty-six  miles  from  Sherman. 
He  spent  three  years  in  Texas  before  he  drifted  to  McComb 
City,  Mississippi,  where  the  now  venerable  John  J.  White 
was  conducting  a  sawmill  operation.  The  young  man  went  to 
work  rolling  slabs  for  fifty  cents  a  day  ;  it  was  his  introduction 
to  the  lumber  business,  and  in  that  mill  he  learned  the  lessons 
he  never  has  forgotten. 

From  the  White  mill,  at  McComb,  is  believed  to  have  been 
shipped  the  first  carload  of  yellow  pine  lumber  that  ever 
reached  Chicago.  The  shipment,  recalled  by  Mr.  Hinton, 
was  made  in  the  early  part  of  1878  to  P.  G.  Dodge  &  Co.  and 
consisted  of  three  cars  of  one-inch  and  two-inch  finish.  From 
a  mere  laborer  about  this  mill,  Mr.  Hinton  was  advanced  to 
more  important  posts  as  he  demonstrated  his  ability,  and, 
finally,  he  became  general  superintendent  of  the  plant. 

As  early  as  1883  Mr.  Hinton  began  investing  in  timber 
lands.  In  that  year  he  bought  2,700  acres  of  timber  near 
Lumberton,  Mississippi,  on  his  own  account,  and  this  tract 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  large  holdings  of  the  Camp  &  Hinton 
Company  of  today.  In  1886,  Mr.  Hinton  joined  with  H.  A. 
Camp,  R.  W.  Hinton  and  H.  P.  Hinton  in  the  formation  of 
the  firm  of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros,  to  carry  on  a  small  manufac- 
turing operation.  The  men  were  possessed  of  but  modest 
capital  and  a  Lane  &  Bodley  mill  was  bought  on  credit,  set  up 
and  put  into  operation,  sawing  on  the  timber  originally  bought 
by  Mr.  Hinton  and  added  to  by  additional  purchases  of  the 


JOHN  H.  HINTON  259 

firm.  The  operation  proved  a  satisfactory  and  paying  invest- 
ment and  gradually  the  operations  of  the  firm  were  extended. 
In  1890  R.  W.  Hinton  and  H.  P.  Hinton  retired  from  the 
business  and  the  firm  became  Camp  &  Hinton,  v^^hich  firm,  in 
1899,  incorporated  the  Camp  &  Hinton  Company.  J.  J. 
White  became  president  of  the  corporation;  Mr.  Hinton, 
vice  president,  and  H.  A.  Camp,  secretary  and  treasurer.  A  few 
years  later  Mr.  Hinton  bought  the  interests  of  his  associates  in 
the  company  and  practically  became  the  proprietor  of  the 
business.  The  present  officers  of  the  Camp  &  Hinton  Com- 
pany are  J.  H.  Hinton,  president;  A.  S.  Hinton,  vice  presi- 
dent; T.  L.  Venable,  secretary,  and  H.  H.  Hinton,  treasurer. 

In  addition  to  his  large  lumber  interests  Mr.  Hinton  has  in- 
vestments in  other  enterprises.  He  is  a  director  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Lumberton,  and  a  half  owner  of  the  sawmill 
business  of  J.  C.  Pearson,  two  miles  north  of  Lumberton,  on 
the  New  Orleans  &  North-eastern  Railroad.  He  has  an 
interest  in  the  sawmill  business  of  A.  S.  Hinton  &  Co.,  at 
Hinton  Spur,  eight  miles  east  of  Lumberton,  on  the  Gulf 
&  Ship  Island  Railroad.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Ewing- 
Young  Turpentine  Company,  of  Baxterville,  Mississippi,  and 
has  interests  in  lumber  yards  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 
He  is  president  of  the  Panama  Lumber  &  Trading  Company, 
which  was  organized  to  do  an  export  lumber  business  with 
Europe,  Central  America  and  South  America  and  which  oper- 
ates its  own  line  of  steamers.  Mr.  Hinton  has  offices  on  the 
tenth  floor  of  the  Hibernia  Bank  Building,  in  New  Orleans,  as 
well  as  in  Lumberton,  between  which  two  cities  he  divides  his 
time.  Mr.  Hinton  has  general  supervision  of  the  sales  of  the 
output  of  the  main  mill  at  Lumberton  and  of  several  smaller 
mills,  approximating  60,000,000  feet  annually. 

He  has  always  taken  a  vitalizing  interest  in  association 
matters  and  his  strength  in  this  line  has  been  given  recognition 
by  his  fellow  workers.  He  is  one  of  the  men  to  whom  credit 
is  given  for  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Lumber  Manu- 
facturers'  Association,  the  predecessor  of    the   Yellow  Pine 


26o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Manufacturers'  Association,  and  has  since  served  continuously 
as  either  a  director  or  vice  president  for  his  State  in  that  body. 
He  is  vice  president  of  the  Central  Yellow  Pine  Association, 
an  organization  of  recent  years  of  manufacturers  in  Mississippi 
and  Alabama  to  control  local  issues  in  those  two  states.  Mr. 
Hinton  has  held  one  political  office  during  his  career,  serving 
as  postmaster  of  Lumberton  under  Grover  Cleveland's  admin- 
istration. 

Mr.  Hinton  married  Miss  Emmet  Roberta  White,  eldest 
daughterof  J.  J.  White,  of  McComb  City,  Mississippi,  April  12, 
1881.  The  couple  has  six  children — John  White,  Herbert 
Hammond,  Bonita,  Helen,  Irene  and  Emmet  Grace  Hinton. 
John  W.  Hinton  and  Herbert  H.  Hinton,  both  of  whom  are 
graduates  of  Cornell  University,  are  associated  with  their 
father  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Camp  &  Hinton 
Company.  The  family  occupies  a  handsome  residence  in  New 
Orleans  during  the  winter  and  a  country  home  near  Lumberton 
in  the  summer. 

Mr.  Hinton  is  a  Mason,  being  a  member  of  Lumberton 
Lodge  No.  417,  the  Meridian  Consistory  and  Hamasa  Temple 
of  the  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  took  the  thirty-third 
degree  in  1906.  In  New  Orleans  he  holds  membership  in 
the  Pickwick,  Round  Table  and  several  carnival  clubs. 


Robert     '^    ""  ^ 


In  cor 
states 


action,  which  I  i   the 

An   early  invader  of   the 
.N  jippi  lumber  industry  was   Robert  Wood  Hinton,   of 

Lumberton,  a  figure  prominent  in  the  trade  for  many  years. 
He  18  not  a  Mississippian  by  birth,  having  been  reared  in 
Georgia,  but  he  has  so  long  followed  his  fortunes  there  that 
no  son  could  be  more  loyal  to  her.  In  1886,  when  Mr.  Hinton 
first  became  identified  with  the  lumber  business  at  Lumberton 
and  cn^^'^'^d  with  others  in  the  manufacture  of  yellow  pine, 
'^  -   -  >^  ^^^  r^Mic  ^f  f^e  section  had  a  restricted  sale, 

\\/r>cf    M.»»>r»i    I^1'lrL'^^e    vet    tO    De 

^*.^r,  not 

uulg    of 

y  o  liiLcrests  of 


H 


Ot    i 

J  came  to 
ii  cotton  rr" 

of  his  Chr  ot 

1  i    Hinton,   a  V  who 

settled  II  '^  of  whose 

sons  was  M  m  early  life  married 

Elizabeth  White,  a  j  born  Robert  Wood 


MOTHIM     aOOW     TH^fcJOi^ 


ROBERT     NA/OOD     HINXON 


Robert  W.  Hinton 


In  comparison  with  the  industrial  growth  of  other  southern 
states  Mississippi  was  slow  to  respond  to  the  call  of  progress, 
but  within  the  last  two  decades  that  Commonwealth  has  largely 
augmented  its  activity  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  fields. 
Contributive  in  the  greatest  degree  to  this  progress  have  been 
the  exploitation  of  the  immense  forest  wealth  of  the  State  and 
the  continued  railroad  construction,  which  has  afforded  the 
necessary  arteries  to  commerce.  An  early  invader  of  the 
Mississippi  lumber  industry  was  Robert  Wood  Hinton,  of 
Lumberton,  a  figure  prominent  in  the  trade  for  many  years. 

He  is  not  a  Mississippian  by  birth,  having  been  reared  in 
Georgia,  but  he  has  so  long  followed  his  fortunes  there  that 
no  son  could  be  more  loyal  to  her.  In  1886,  when  Mr.  Hinton 
first  became  identified  with  the  lumber  business  at  Lumberton 
and  engaged  with  others  in  the  manufacture  of  yellow  pine, 
the  product  of  the  mills  of  the  section  had  a  restricted  sale. 
The  North,  the  East  and  the  West  were  markets  yet  to  be 
developed.  In  subsequent  years  Mr.  Hinton  has  been  not 
only  a  witness  but  a  participant  as  well  in  the  opening  of 
profitable  fields  for  yellow  pine,  and  today  he  has  interests  of 
an  extensive  character. 

Robert  W.  Hinton  comes  of  an  old  southern  family  on  the 
paternal  side,  the  early  members  having  been  colonists  in 
Virginia.  On  his  maternal  side  is  a  strain  of  Irish  ancestry, 
the  original  member  of  that  family  who  came  to  America  hav- 
ing built  and  operated  the  initial  cotton  mill  in  Georgia,  in 
1827.  Mr.  Hinton  bears  as  part  of  his  Christian  name  that  of 
his  paternal  grandfather.  Wood  Hinton,  a  Virginian  who 
settled  in  the  northern  portion  of  Georgia  and  one  of  whose 
sons  was  Mansfield  Hinton.  The  latter  in  early  life  married 
Elizabeth  White,  and  of  this  union  was  born  Robert  Wood 

261 


262  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Hinton,  December  28,  1854.  The  scene  of  his  birth  was  on 
the  plantation  owned  by  his  father  at  Winder,  Jackson  County, 
Georgia,  and  it  was  there  he  spent  his  boyhood  days. 

Mansfield  Hinton,  father  of  R.  W.  Hinton,  was  a  prosper- 
ous planter  when  the  people  of  the  North  and  the  people  of 
the  South  were  arrayed  against  each  other.  Mr.  Hinton  was 
old  enough  to  realize  the  horrors  of  war  when  the  conflict  be- 
tween the  sections  opened  in  1861.  Almost  from  the  first  year 
of  that  memorable  struggle  the  plantation  declined,  through 
the  negroes  taking  flight  and  the  able  bodied  men  of  the  com- 
munity bearing  arms.  Upon  the  plantation  was  camped  at 
one  time  a  northern  regiment  which  formed  part  of  the  Fed- 
eral army  under  General  Sherman.  Even  during  the  war  days 
young  Hinton  was  sent  to  the  district  school  near  his  home 
and  he  picked  up  a  fair  education,  though  he  was  deprived  of 
a  college  education  because  of  the  depressed  conditions  which 
existed  for  many  years  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities  and 
which  necessitated  his  assuming  much  of  the  responsibility  of 
conducting  the  plantation.  The  work  of  conserving  the  estate 
was  a  hard  task,  but  the  young  man  was  equal  to  it  and  he 
remained  on  the  plantation  until  long  after  he  had  reached  his 
majority.  The  plantation,  consisting  of  260  acres  of  fertile 
farming  land  and  forty  acres  of  virgin  timber,  remains  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Hinton  and  his  brother,  J.  H.  Hinton. 
They  prize  the  property  far  beyond  its  intrinsic  value  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  it  would  be  sold  at  any  price  if  by  such  a  transfer 
it  would  pass  out  of  the  hands  of  the  family. 

It  was  not  until  1886  that  Mr.  Hinton  became  interested  in 
lumbering,  though  he  was  famiHar  with  its  details  through  the 
operations  carried  on  in  the  section  of  Georgia  where  he 
lived.  Several  years  prior  to  that  period  his  brother  had  gone 
to  Mississippi  and  invested  in  timber  lands  owned  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, from  whom  title  was  obtained.  Mr.  Hinton,  when 
it  was  decided  to  develop  these  lands,  went  to  Lumberton, 
Mississippi,  where  he  joined  his  brother,  H.  A.  Camp  and  H. 
P.  Hinton  in  forming  the  firm  of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros.     A 


ROBERT  W.  HINTON  263 

mill  of  small  capacity  was  set  up  on  a  tract  of  timber  owned 
by  the  firm  near  Lumberton  and  active  operations  were  started. 
It  was  an  auspicious  time  for  the  inauguration  of  such  an 
enterprise,  with  the  result  that  the  business  grew  and  pros- 
pered. The  individual  members  of  the  firm  were  alive  to  the 
situation,  and  as  a  demand  was  created  for  lumber  they  in- 
creased the  milling  facilities  and  invested  in  more  timber. 

In  1890  Mr.  Hinton  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  firm 
of  Camp  &  Hinton  Bros,  to  carry  on  a  commission  business 
for  himself.  He  succeeded  well  in  this  venture  and  gradually 
built  up  a  good  business,  though  in  doing  so  he  became  in- 
volved in  the  handling  of  turpentine  and  in  that  way  again 
became  interested  in  sawmilling.  In  1899  Mr.  Hinton  formed 
the  R.  W.  Hinton  Company  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a 
general  merchandise  business  and  the  manufacture  of  naval 
stores.  Lumberton  is  well  located  for  the  conduct  of  such  an 
enterprise,  being  in  Lamar  County,  almost  on  the  dividing 
line  of  that  county  and  Pearl  River  County,  and  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  New  Orleans  &  North-eastern  Railroad,  a  part  of 
the  Queen  &  Crescent  Route,  and  the  Gulf  &  Ship  Island 
Railroad.  The  large  amount  of  territory  tributary  to  Lum- 
berton permitted  of  an  excellent  business  being  built  up,  and 
it  now  forms  Mr.  Hinton's  chief  interest  and  occupies  most  of 
his  attention  and  time.  The  officers  of  the  R.  W.  Hinton 
Company  are  R.  W.  Hinton,  president;  A.  S.  Hinton,  vice 
president,  and  H.  C.  Yawn,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

The  sawmill  department  of  the  R.  W.  Hinton  Company 
grew  at  an  astounding  pace,  and  it  became  expedient  to  sep- 
arate this  interest  from  that  of  general  merchandising.  This 
was  accomplished  in  1903,  when  Mr.  Hinton  organized  the 
Hinton  Bros.  Lumber  Company.  The  concern  operates  a 
modern  sawmill  plant  at  Lumberton  with  an  output  of  about 
16,000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine  lumber  a  year.  Mr.  Hinton 
had  early  provided  a  supply  of  timber  which  has  been  in- 
creased instead  of  diminished  in  recent  years.  The  holdings 
of  the  company  are  estimated  at  approximately  135,000,000 


264  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

feet  of  yellow  pine  stumpage.  Mr.  Hinton  Is  president  of  the 
company;  A.  S.  Hinton,  vice  president;  H.  C.  Yawn,  secre- 
tary and  treasurer,  and  W.  P.  Haynes,  manager. 

Other  lumber  manufacturing  concerns  in  which  Mr.  Hin- 
ton is  interested  are  the  Camp  &  Hinton  Company,  of  Lum- 
berton,  and  the  W.  B.  Leeke  Company,  of  Baxterville,  Marion 
County,  Mississippi.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Lumberton 
Drug  Company  and  a  director  and  member  of  the  finance 
committee  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lumberton. 

Mr.  Hinton  has  an  interesting  family  of  six  children.  Mrs. 
Hinton  was  Miss  Mary  Etta  Haynes  before  her  marriage  to 
Mr.  Hinton  at  Newton,  North  Carolina,  May  31,  1880.  The 
children  are  Robert  Wood,  Junior,  Dayle,  Ruth,  Jerrlne, 
Daniel  Pitts  and  Sarah  Elizabeth  Hinton.  The  eldest  son  in- 
herited many  of  the  sterhng  qualities  of  his  father  and  he 
undoubtedly  will  prove  a  worthy  successor  to  his  father  when 
the  latter  shall  choose  to  lay  down  his  burdens.  The  members 
of  the  family  attend  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Hinton  is  a  Scottish  Rite  and  a  York  Rite  Mason,  and  - . 
a  member  of  the  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  though  active  he 
never  has  sought  office.  He  is  fond  of  driving  and  he  gets 
more  real  pleasure  in  handling  the  reins  over  a  blooded  animal 
than  in  any  other  form  of  recreation. 


Thee 
education  c*l  a  i 
b 

ide  of  theimmeu 

deserved  recognj 

ler  woods  long  con- 

ineqt  e  of  the  nnen — and  a  comparatively 

man,  at  that — who  has  contributed  much  to  the  ad- 

..inent   of  yellow  pine   as   a  commodity  is  John  Lanzel 

Kaul,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama. 

A  half  century  ago  members  of  the  Kaul  family  became 
identified  with  lumbering  operations  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  younger  generation  has  carried  on  the  business  in  later 
years  in  the  South  country.  John  L.  Kaul's  father,  Andrew 
Kaul,  was  a  conspicuous  and  successful  figure  in  lumber 
operations  in  the  Keystone  State,  where  he  began  in  the  in- 
dustry as  a  woodsman  shor'^^       '         Ve  outbreak  of  the  Civil 

V  ^'  ''   ■^^  near  St.  Marys, 

and 
near  t  her 

was  \^^ 
near  n 
t 

>d- 
he 

V  :  father  gratified 
li  n  he  was  but  fifteen 
years  c  sociation  with  men  of 
affairs  bi  ition  of  his  lack  of 
education.                                                 ther,  who  was  ambitious 

_IUA>I    _I3SHA_I     MHOU 


0M 


JOHN     LANZEL.    KAUL_ 


John  L.  Kaul 


The  exploitation  of  a  certain  wood,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
education  of  a  greater  number  of  consumers  to  its  uses,  has 
been  the  means  of  bringing  honor  and  reward  to  many  lum- 
bermen. Within  the  last  generation  yellow  pine,  once  neg- 
lected in  the  domestic  trade,  outside  of  the  immediate  territory 
in  which  it  grows,  has  been  given  deserved  recognition  for 
its  utility  and  has  been  classed  with  other  woods  long  con- 
sidered unequaled.  One  of  the  men — and  a  comparatively 
young  man,  at  that — who  has  contributed  much  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  yellow  pine  as  a  commodity  is  John  Lanzel 
Kaul,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama. 

A  half  century  ago  members  of  the  Kaul  family  became 
identified  with  lumbering  operations  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  younger  generation  has  carried  on  the  business  in  later 
years  in  the  South  country.  John  L.  Kaul's  father,  Andrew 
Kaul,  was  a  conspicuous  and  successful  figure  in  lumber 
operations  in  the  Keystone  State,  where  he  began  in  the  in- 
dustry as  a  woodsman  shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  son  was  born  October  9,  1866,  near  St.  Marys, 
Elk  County,  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny  River  and 
near  the  summit  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  His  mother 
was  Walburga  (Lanzel)  Kaul.  The  home  of  the  family  was 
near  a  small  mill  operated  by  the  senior  Kaul,  its  equipment 
consisting  of  an  old  fashioned  gang  and  mulay  saw.  In  this 
atmosphere  of  lumbering  John  L.  Kaul  was  reared,  a  God- 
fearing, conscientious  and  ambitious  youth.  Like  all  boys  he 
was  eager  to  take  up  life's  active  work,  so  his  father  gratified 
his  desire  by  placing  him  in  the  mill  when  he  was  but  fifteen 
years  old.  But  a  year  of  work  and  his  association  with  men  of 
affairs  brought  home  to  the  boy  the  realization  of  his  lack  of 
education.    With  the  consent  of  his  father,  who  was  ambitious 

265 


266  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

for  the  future  of  his  son,  young  Kaul  went  to  Rock  Hill  Col- 
lege, at  Baltimore,  where  he  studied  for  four  years  and  sup- 
plemented this  with  a  business  course  at  a  Poughkeepsie  col- 
lege. 

Although  scarcely  of  manhood's  estate,  Mr.  Kaul  was 
given  a  position  in  the  office  of  Kaul  &  Hall,  of  which  firm 
his  father  was  a  member.  His  college  course  had  prepared 
him  for  a  quick  mastery  of  the  details  of  the  accounting  end 
of  the  business.  He  essayed  larger  responsibilities  and  more 
active  work  in  the  conduct  of  the  manufacturing  business  as 
then  carried  on.  About  1888  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
lumbering  operations  of  a  hardwood  mill  owned  by  his  father 
in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Marys.  For  a  year  he  managed  this 
work  with  credit  to  himself,  but  even  wider  opportunities  for 
the  exercise  of  his  abilities  were  to  be  presented.  The  timber 
supply  in  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania  was  diminishing  to 
such  an  extent  that  another  location  for  the  carrying  on  of  the 
business  had  to  be  found.  In  1889  Mr.  Kaul  started  on  a 
prospecting  trip  through  the  southern  coast  states  for  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  a  suitable  tract  of  timber  for  investment  and 
development.  Several  available  tracts  were  found,  but  it  was 
not  until  1890  that  Mr.  Kaul  secured  the  desired  opportunity 
for  an  operative  investment. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  he  bought  a  one-fourth  interest  in 
the  Sample  Lumber  Company,  at  Hollins,  Alabama,  becom- 
ing secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  concern.  The  mill  operated 
had  an  annual  capacity  of  about  12,000,000  feet,  while  approxi- 
mately 150,000,000  feet  of  timber  was  owned.  Here  it  was 
that  Mr.  Kaul  received  his  training  in  the  southern  lumber 
business  and  realized  the  possibilities  and  future  of  yellow 
pine. 

In  1891,  after  Mr.  Kaul  had  become  identified  with  the 
Sample  Lumber  Company,  the  holdings  of  Blanchard,  Hum- 
ber  &  Co.,  of  Columbus,  Georgia,  in  the  Sample  company 
were  bought  by  him  in  connection  with  A.  Truman,  which 
gave  each  of  them  a  one-half  interest  in  the  stock.     A  year 


JOHN  L.  KAUL  267 

later  Mr.  Truman's  interest  was  bought  by  Mr.  Kaul  and  the 
concern  was  renamed  the  Kaul  Lumber  Company,  three- 
fourths  of  the  stock  of  which  is  held  by  Mr.  Kaul. 

Following  the  reorganization  of  the  company  the  plant  was 
modernized  by  the  installation  of  new  and  additional  machin- 
ery, increasing  the  capacity  so  that  by  1900  it  was  40,000,000 
feet  annually.  Standing  timber  aggregating  350,000,000  feet 
already  was  owned,  and  additional  investments  were  made  in 
yellow  pine  stumpage  for  the  purpose  of  ensuring  a  longer 
life  for  the  mill.  Altogether,  800,000,000  additional  feet  of 
timber  was  bought  in  the  name  of  the  Kaul  Land  &  Lumber 
Company,  of  which  Mr.  Kaul  is  president.  This  timber  is 
located  on  the  Black  Warrior  River,  in  Bibb,  Perry  and  Tus- 
caloosa counties,  Alabama.  The  timber  holdings  now  exceed 
1,000,000,000  feet. 

With  the  Kaul  Lumber  Company  running  in  good  shape, 
Mr.  Kaul,  with  other  well-informed  men,  began  missionary 
work  in  the  interest  of  yellow  pine  lumber  in  the  North.  The 
purpose  was  to  set  forth  the  great  value  of  yellow  pine  for  all 
uses  and  to  establish  a  firmer  reputation  for  it  than  it  had  ever 
before  enjoyed.  At  the  time  this  work  was  started,  more  than 
a  decade  ago,  longleaf  pine  lumber  had  a  comparatively  limit- 
ed field.  By  persistent  efforts  along  educational  lines,  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Kaul  and  the  others  interested,  many  prejudices 
existing  in  the  northern  markets  against  this  wood  were  elim- 
inated. Mr.  Kaul  became  one  of  the  warmest  supporters  of 
the  work  of  the  Southern  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, serving  for  several  years  as  vice  president  for  Alabama, 
and  also  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors.  He  not  only 
gave  his  moral  support  to  the  organization,  but  aided  it  finan- 
cially. That  his  efforts  were  appreciated  and  his  ability  ad- 
mitted was  acknowledged  in  his  selection  for  president  of  the 
association  at  the  annual  meeting  held  in  New  Orleans, 
Louisiana,  in  January,  1906,  at  which  meeting  the  organization 
was  given  the  more  distinctive  title  of  the  "Yellow  Pine  Man- 
ufacturers' Association." 


268  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

One  of  Mr.  Kaul's  ability  and  progressiveness  was  bound  to 
make  his  mark  in  the  commercial  world  of  the  South.  He 
has  become  interested  in  many  business  enterprises  apart  from 
his  lumber  manufacturing  and  timber  holding  operations. 
He  is  prominently  connected  with  coal  mining  interests  in 
Alabama  and  with  other  operations  of  a  miscellaneous  nature. 
He  is  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Birmingham,  one  of  the  leading  financial  institutions  of  the 
South  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000  and  a  surplus  of  $500,000. 
With  all  his  aggressiveness,  Mr.  Kaul's  moves  have  much  of 
the  conservativeness  of  the  North  about  them,  and  he  is  of 
that  type  of  men  to  whom  the  South  owes  much  of  its  recent 
prosperity  and  development. 

Mr.  Kaul  married  Miss  Virginia  Roy  Head,  a  daughter  of 
Judge  Head,  of  Birmingham,  a  member  of  the  State  Supreme 
Court,  on  June  18,  1901.  Two  children  have  been  born  of 
this  union,  one  of  whom,  a  daughter,  is  living. 

Mr.  Kaul  is  of  a  social  disposition.  He  is  a  member  of 
many  clubs,  among  them  being  the  Country  and  the  Southern 
clubs.  He  is  a  Hoo-Hoo,  having  been  initiated  in  the  order 
at  a  time  when  its  membership  was  less  than  1,000. 

Everything  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  lumbermen  and  the 
upbuilding  of  lumbering  has  the  interest  and  support  of  Mr. 
Kaul.  In  consideration  of  his  valuable  services  in  other  lines 
he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  executive  committee  entrusted 
with  the  task  of  raising  a  fund  for  the  endowment  of  a  chair  of 
applied  forestry  and  practical  lumbering  in  Yale  University. 
Another  honor  which  came  to  him  unsolicited,  marking  an- 
other tribute  to  his  interest  in  such  matters,  was  his  election 
as  vice  president  of  the  American  Forest  Congress.  Mr.  Kaul 
himself  is  a  practical  lumberman,  but  the  theoretical  side  ap- 
peals to  him  as  well,  and  anything  that  tends  to  conserve  the 
timber  of  this  country  enlists  his  ready  sympathy  and  support. 


Wi 


N  ■! 

V 
s 

.  rs  of  active  \  « 

„^  one  of  the  mo<;t  successful  enterprises  u.  j 

territory,   rrurrA  m              the  fruits  of  his  labors,  i  g 

t^-"*  ->i^  •                     •..^   of  the  company  in  which  he  was 

He  was  the  executive  head  of  the  Bradley- Ramsay  Lumber 
Company,  a  pioneer  concern  in  longleaf  pine  manufacturing, 
which,  in  March,  1906,  was  sold  to  the  Long-Bell  Lumber 
Company,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  For  nearly  two  decades 
the  Bradley-Ramsay  Lumber  Company  operated  extensively 
in  Lf  '      •  superior  quality  of  longleaf   pine 

,s    that    placed   it    in  the    front 

rs.     This  eminent  position 

in  a  d  many 

edited  to 


9 

e  of 

the    t  n 

)n  in  the 
lool  and  se- 
Jesuit  colleges, 
world  was  gained  as  a 

clerk  ty  when  he  was  fifteen 

years  oH  o^  business  for  five  years, 

YAeMAH     ai/iuMa3     MAI-I_JINA/ 


\A/IL.L.IAM     EDMUND     RAMSAY 


William  E.  Ramsay 


Nearly  twenty  years  ago  a  group  of  northern  lumbermen 
turned  their  attention  from  the  somewhat  depleted  white  pine 
forests  of  the  North  to  the  more  promising  South  country 
where  grows  the  longleaf  yellow  pine.  One  of  this  group  was 
WilHam  Edmund  Ramsay,  of  Lake  Charles,  Louisiana,  who, 
after  nineteen  years  of  active  work,  during  which  time  was 
built  up  one  of  the  most  successful  enterprises  in  the  Calcasieu 
territory,  retired  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  following 
the  sale  of  the  property  of  the  company  in  which  he  was 
interested. 

He  was  the  executive  head  of  the  Bradley- Ramsay  Lumber 
Company,  a  pioneer  concern  in  longleaf  pine  manufacturing, 
which,  in  March,  1906,  was  sold  to  the  Long-Bell  Lumber 
Company,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  For  nearly  two  decades 
the  Bradley-Ramsay  Lumber  Company  operated  extensively 
in  Louisiana,  exploiting  a  superior  quality  of  longleaf  pine 
and  building  up  a  business  that  placed  it  in  the  front 
rank  of  southern  lumber  producers.  This  eminent  position 
of  the  company  was  secured  not  in  a  day,  but  after  many 
years,  and  much  of  its  success  must  honestly  be  credited  to 
the  active  man  in  its  affairs — William  E.  Ramsay. 

William  E.  Ramsay  is  a  Canadian  by  birth,  having  been 
born  at  St.  Johns,  Province  of  Quebec,  July  9,  1855.  His 
parents,  S.  P.  Ramsay  and  Jessie  (McKay)  Ramsay,  were  of 
the  true  Scotch  blood,  having  migrated  to  Canada  from 
Perth,  Scotland.  The  son  began  his  early  education  in  the 
schools  of  the  Province,  later  attending  high  school  and  se- 
curing a  higher  mental  training  at  one  of  the  Jesuit  colleges. 

His  first  experience  in  the  business  world  was  gained  as  a 
clerk  in  a  grocery  store  in  his  native  city  when  he  was  fifteen 
years  old.     He  followed  this  line  of  business  for  five  years, 

269 


270  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

developing  good  qualities  as  a  salesman,  which  were  evidenced 
in  later  years  when  he  broadened  his  career  in  the  white  pine 
country.  In  1876  he  became  connected  with  a  New  York 
mercantile  house  for  which  he  traveled  about  one  year, 
resigning  his  position  to  enter  the  employ  of  Wells,  Stone  & 
Co.,  a  firm  dealing  extensively  in  lumbermen's  supplies  at 
Saginaw,  Michigan.  This  was  his  introduction  to  the  white 
pine  country.  The  partners  in  this  business  were  Ammi  W. 
Wright,  Charles  W.  Wells  and  Farnham  C.  Stone.  Mr. 
Ramsay  quickly  made  his  services  valuable  to  his  employers, 
and  within  five  years  had  been  advanced  to  the  head  of  the 
office  force  of  the  firm,  and  later,  when  the  business  was 
reorganized  under  the  name  of  the  Wells-Stone  Mercantile 
Company,  he  assumed  the  treasurership  of  the  concern. 

In  1887  Mr.  Ramsay  severed  his  connection  with  the  Wells- 
Stone  Mercantile  Company  to  organize  the  Bradley-Ramsay 
Lumber  Company,  in  connection  with  Nathan  B.  Bradley, 
Lewis  Penoyer,  Robert  H.  Nason  and  Benton  Hanchett.  As 
early  as  1880  these  men  had  begun  the  investment  of  money 
in  timber  lands  in  Louisiana.  At  this  early  date  it  was  evident 
that  the  white  pine  production  of  the  North  was  nearing  its 
highest  mark  and  a  few  years  more  would  witness  its  decline ; 
therefore,  newer  fields  for  the  carrying  on  of  lumber  opera- 
tions would  be  necessary.  Following  the  organization  of  the 
Bradley-Ramsay  Lumber  Company  a  large  sawmill  was  built 
at  Lake  Charles,  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Ramsay  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  operations,  and 
he  took  the  novel  method  of  shipping  sample  carload  lots 
to  the  northern  and  western  states,  where  it  was  found  the 
lumber  could  readily  be  used  for  sash,  door  and  blind  pur- 
poses as  well  as  for  other  finishing  material.  It  did  not  take 
long  to  get  a  foothold  in  this  trade  and  the  company  soon 
became  a  heavy  shipper  to  the  sections  mentioned  and  gained 
an  enviable  reputation  for  making  high  grades  of  lumber.  It 
shipped  even  into  Michigan,  then  in  its  zenith  of  prosperity 
as  a  white  pine   producing  state,  and  succeeded  in  holding 


WILLIAM  E.  RAMSAY  271 

nearly  all  the  trade  thus  originally  secured.  Mr.  Ramsay's 
attention  was  directed  toward  the  possibilities  of  longleaf 
yellow  pine  for  railroad  material,  and  for  many  years  large 
contracts  were  handled  for  ties,  bridge  timbers  and  other 
railroad  material,  much  of  this  demand  coming  from  Texas. 
This  feature  of  the  business  became  so  important  that  much 
time  was  devoted  to  it  and  the  mill  was  kept  sawing  regularly 
on  heavy  orders  for  the  railroad  companies.  An  extensive 
trade  was  built  up  also  in  decking  for  Government  vessels  and 
ships  of  the  merchant  marine. 

The  timber  holdings  of  the  company  exceeded  150,000 
acres,  these  holdings  being  added  to  annually  in  order  to 
replace  the  timber  cut  at  the  Lake  Charles  mill.  The  timber 
was  conceded  to  be  the  finest  in  the  Calcasieu  Valley.  The 
company  was  one  of  the  first  in  the  field  and  went  over  the 
ground,  employing  the  most  expert  estimators  and  woodsmen, 
and  practically  had  its  choice  of  the  now  famous  Calcasieu 
pine. 

The  mill  properties  operated  included  the  Mt.  Hope  mill, 
acquired  by  purchase,  and  a  big  plant  about  one  mile  above 
on  the  banks  of  the  Calcasieu  River.  The  upper  or  main 
mill  was  called  the  Gossport  mill  and  was  situated  about  two 
miles  from  the  center  of  Lake  Charles.  The  general  offices 
of  the  company  were  located  at  this  point  and  were  models  in 
their  way.  The  Gossport  mill  itself  was  equipped  with  a 
circular  and  a  band  mill.  A  stock  of  about  10,000,000  feet 
was  carried  at  the  Gossport  yard  and  about  5,000,000  feet  at 
the  Mt.  Hope  plant.  The  dry  kiln  facilities  were  not  excelled 
by  any  in  the  Southwest  and  the  planing  mill  equipment  was 
modern  and  complete.  Every  known  appliance  for  fighting 
any  possible  conflagration  was  put  into  operation  and  the 
insurance  risk  was  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Besides  depending  on  the  river  for  a  supply  of  logs,  the 
company  operated  the  Lake  Charles  &  Leesville  Railroad,  a 
standard  gauge  road  laid  with  heavy  steel  rails  and  having  a 
full  complement  of  rolling  stock.     The  road  extends  thirty- 


272  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

eight   miles  into  and   through   the   timber   holdings   of   the 
company. 

Through  his  connection  and  interests  in  the  Bradley- 
Ramsay  Lumber  Company  Mr.  Ramsay  acquired  other 
interests  and  became  a  director  of  the  W.  H.  Norris  Lumr 
ber  Company,  of  Houston,  Texas,  and  interested  in  the 
Gebert  Shingle  Company,  Limited,  of  New  Iberia,  Loui- 
siana. He  is  a  director  in  the  following  enterprises:  The 
Murray-Brooks  Hardware  Company,  Limited,  Interstate  Oil 
&  Land  Company,  Lake  Charles  Chemical  Company,  Majestic 
Hotel  Company,  First  National  Bank  of  Lake  Charles,  Lake 
Charles  National  Bank,  Calcasieu  National  Bank,  all  of  Lake 
Charles,  and  the  Ramey-Hutchins'  Rubber  Company,  of  Los 
Angeles,  California. 

Mr.  Ramsay  married  Miss  Katherine  M.  Penoyer,  a 
daughter  of  Lewis  Penoyer,  at  Saginaw,  Michigan,  June  28, 
1882.  Residing  in  the  beautiful  home  at  Lake  Charles  with 
their  parents  are  the  four  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs  Ramsay- 
Lewis  P.  Ramsay,  who  recently  attained  his  majority,  Herbert 
H.  Ramsay,  Katherine  Ramsay  and  Marjorie  Ramsay.  The 
family  attends  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Ramsay  is  a  Republican  but  never  has  sought  prom- 
inence in  politics.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  Knight  Templar. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Pickwick  Club,  of  New  Orleans,  and 
made  the  club  his  headquarters  during  his  frequent  visits  to 
that  city.  His  favorite  recreation  is  yachting,  though  the 
demands  of  the  business  he  directed  permitted,  formerly,  of 
his  giving  but  little  time  to  this  form  of  rest. 


he  IS  "to 

of  the  patriareliji  oi 
n  transmitted 

in  Ambrose  Frost  was  born  in  >  ity,  Arkan- 

sas, October  25,  1869.  The  lad  grew  up  into  a  youth  of  more 
than  average  intelligence,  attending  the  public  school  near  his 
home  and  working  on  the  farm  during  the  vacation  period 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  The  next  two  winter  seasons 
he  was  a  stuHpnt  at  the  College  Hill  school,  Columbia  County, 
/^r\^^r.<ii.  -  he  tnok  a  college   preparatory  course.     In 

tQ  from  the  farm  to   Stamps,  Lafayette 

;  interested  in  the  Bodcaw  lAim- 

;f  rptnrnrri   from    •  '   hc 

pose  Oi 

CO' 


with 
Drau 


T8om   380F«aMA   Miw/a's 


:dwin    Ambrose:   frost 


Edwin  A.  Frost 


Of  the  most  progressive  type  of  southern  business  men — 
alert,  ambitious,  enterprising — is  Edwin  A.  Frost,  of  Shreve- 
port,  Louisiana.  Although  still  numbered  among  young  men, 
he  has  attained  a  high  position  in  the  commercial  circles  of  his 
native  section.  In  the  lumber  business  he  is  "to  the  manner 
born,"  for  his  father,  E.  W.  Frost,  is  one  of  the  patriarchs  of 
the  lumber  industry,  and  to  the  son  have  been  transmitted 
many  of  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  parent. 

Edwin  Ambrose  Frost  was  born  in  Miller  County,  Arkan- 
sas, October  25,  1869.  The  lad  grew  up  into  a  youth  of  more 
than  average  intelligence,  attending  the  public  school  near  his 
home  and  working  on  the  farm  during  the  vacation  period 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  The  next  two  winter  seasons 
he  was  a  student  at  the  College  Hill  school,  Columbia  County, 
Arkansas,  where  he  took  a  college  preparatory  course.  In 
1886  the  family  moved  from  the  farm  to  Stamps,  Lafayette 
County,  where  the  father  was  interested  in  the  Bodcaw  Lum- 
ber Company.  When  young  Frost  returned  from  school  he 
gave  up  the  idea  of  securing  a  college  education  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  a  practical  course  in  the  sawmill  of  the  Bodcaw 
company.  His  father  humored  him,  convinced  that  the 
youthful  mind  would  be  changed  after  a  trial,  and  for  a  year 
the  young  man  trucked  lumber  about  the  sawmill.  This 
experience  was  sufficient  to  bring  the  younger  Frost  to  the 
realization  that  the  chances  of  success  would  be  greater  if  his 
mind  were  broadened  and  developed  by  a  college  course. 
His  father  sent  him  to  the  Southwestern  Baptist  University,  at 
Jackson,  Tennessee,  one  of  the  oldest  sectarian  colleges  in  the 
South.  Matriculating  in  1887,  Mr.  Frost  in  1890  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  philosophy.  Later,  he  attended 
Draughan's  Business  College,  at  Texarkana,  Arkansas. 

273 


274  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

The  day  after  Mr.  Frost  left  business  college  he  became 
bookkeeper  for  C.  T.  Crowell,  of  Texarkana,  who  was  inter- 
ested in  the  Black  Lake  Lumber  Company,  which  concern 
was  building  a  mill  two  miles  east  of  Dubberly,  Louisiana. 

He  applied  himself  to  the  work  before  him  in  a  manner 
that  has  characterized  his  later  business  affairs,  and  while  he 
was  an  office  employee  he  found  time  to  study  the  operation 
of  the  mill  in  its  various  departments.  At  the  end  of  nine 
months,  when  he  resigned  his  position  to  become  bookkeeper 
for  the  Red  River  Lumber  Company,  at  New  Lewisville, 
Lafayette  County,  Arkansas,  he  had  a  theoretical  knowledge 
of  the  business.  Beginning  his  labors  there  in  the  spring  of 
1891,  Mr.  Frost  in  less  than  a  year  was  promoted  to  the  posi- 
tion of  shipping  clerk,  and  the  executive  qualities  shown  by 
him  subsequently  led  to  his  becoming  manager  of  the  com- 
pany. When  the  Red  River  concern  was  sawed  out  in  1894, 
the  mill  was  moved  to  Frostville,  Arkansas,  on  the  Shreveport 
branch  of  the  Cotton  Belt  system,  fifteen  miles  south  of  New 
Lewisville,  Mr.  Frost  continuing  as  manager.  In  1899  ■'^''• 
Frost  became  associated  with  his  father  as  manager  of  the 
Lufkin  Land  &  Lumber  Company,  in  which  organization 
E.  W.  Frost  was  the  moving  spirit.  A  mill  with  an  annual 
capacity  of  60,000,000  feet  of  longleaf  and  shortleaf  yellow 
pine  was  operated  at  Lufkin,  Texas.  In  May,  1903,  George 
A.  Kelley  succeeded  to  the  management  of  the  company,  but 
Mr.  Frost  retained  the  positions  of  secretary  and  treasurer,  to 
which  he  had  been  elected,  until  the  sale  of  the  property,  in 
June,  1905,  to  the  Long-Bell  Lumber  Company. 

In  the  formation  of  the  Union  Saw  Mill  Company,  of 
Huttig,  Union  County,  Arkansas,  Mr.  Frost  was  most  active. 
He  made  a  preliminary  examination  of  90,000  acres  of  short- 
leaf  yellow  pine  in  Union  County,  Arkansas,  and  in  Union 
Parish,  Louisiana,  and  subsequently  assisted  C.  D.  Johnson, 
president  of  the  company,  in  the  transfer  of  the  titles  to  this 
timber.  Mr.  Frost  is  vice  president  of  the  company,  and 
vice  president  of  the  Little  Rock  &  Monroe  Railway  Com- 


EDWIN  A.  FROST  275 

pany,  which  road  was  built  by  Mr.  Johnson  and  his  associates 
not  only  to  facilitate  the  handling  of  the  timber,  but  to  develop 
a  large  territory  in  Arkansas. 

In  the  De  Soto  Land  &  Lumber  Company,  of  Mansfield, 
Louisiana,  Mr.  Frost  holds  the  position  of  president.  The 
organization  was  perfected  in  December,  1904,  though  two 
years  before  that  Mr.  Frost  bought  150,000,000  feet  of  standing 
timber  near  Mansfield,  these  holdings  having  since  been 
doubled.  A  single  band  mill  is  operated  by  the  company 
south  of  Mansfield,  near  the  junction  of  the  Kansas  City 
Southern  and  the  Texas  &  Pacific  railroads. 

Most  of  Mr.  Frost's  time  and  energies  are  centered  in  the 
management  of  the  Frost-Trigg  Lumber  Company's  aflfairs  at 
Shreveport,  Louisiana,  of  which  he  took  charge  in  the  summer 
of  1903.  As  general  manager  of  the  company  he  has  charge 
of  its  large  manufacturing  interests,  the  three  mills  operated 
having  a  combined  capacity  of  100,000,000  feet  a  year  of  long- 
leaf  and  shortleaf  pine.  One  of  these  mills  is  located  at  Frost- 
ville,  Arkansas,  where  shortleaf  is  manufactured  for  the  yard 
trade.  The  second  mill  is  at  Mansfield,  Louisiana.  The  other 
mill  is  at  Noble,  Louisiana,  where  longleaf  is  sawed  particu- 
larly for  the  eastern  trade. 

In  March,  1906,  Mr.  Frost  was  elected  president  of  the 
Noble  Lumber  Company,  of  Noble,  Louisiana.  This  con- 
cern in  May,  1902,  succeeded  the  R.  L.  Trigg  Lumber  Com- 
pany, and  in  the  following  November  Mr.  Frost  and  C.  D. 
Johnson  reorganized  its  affairs  and  Mr.  Frost  was  elected 
secretary  and  treasurer  and  general  manager. 

In  February,  1906,  Mr.  Frost  located  the  timber  upon 
which  was  later  based  the  operations  of  the  Black  Lake  Lum- 
ber Company,  of  Campti,  Louisiana,  which  he  organized  in 
the  following  March.  The  capital  stock  is  $1,000,000  and  the 
annual  capacity  is  30,000,000  feet.  The  officers  are  E.  A 
Frost,  president;  F.  T.  Whited,  vice  president;  H.  H.  Whe- 
less,  secretary,  and  G.  S.  Prestridge,  treasurer. 

Mr.  Frost  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Kelley  Land  &  Lumber 


276  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Company,  of  Lufkin,  Texas,  and  in  the  Carter-Kelley  Lumber 
Company,  of  Manning,  Texas. 

In  addition  to  his  extended  manufacturing  interests  in 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  Mr.  Frost  is  a  stockholder  and  an 
officer  in  several  financial  institutions.  He  is  president  of  the 
Lufkin  National  Bank  and  president  and  a  director  of  the 
State  National  Bank,  of  Texarkana,  Arkansas.  He  is  also 
president  and  a  director  of  the  State  Savings  &  Trust  Com- 
pany, of  Texarkana,  and  a  director  of  the  De  Soto  Bank,  of 
Mansfield,  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Frost  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  an  Odd  Fellow, 
affiliated  with  lodges  at  Lufkin.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Caddo 
Club,  of  Shreveport.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Hoo-Hoo  and 
has  served  faithfully  as  vicegerent  snark. 

While  located  at  New  Lewisville,  Arkansas,  Mr.  Frost 
married  Miss  Jennie  Chappelle,  November  3,  1892.  Two 
daughters  have  gladdened  the  married  life  of  the  couple. 
The  children  are  Mary,  aged  eleven  years,  and  Elizabeth, 
aged  ten  years.  Upon  moving  to  Shreveport  to  make  that 
city  his  home,  Mr.  Frost  built  a  beautiful  residence,  where 
true  southern  hospitality  is  dispensed. 

As  stated  before,  Mr.  Frost  is  a  wide-awake,  progressive 
business  man.  He  is  an  excellent  type  of  that  class  of  south- 
erners who  are  thoroughly  alive  to  the  possibilities  and  oppor- 
tunities of  that  vast  section  of  the  country.  Upon  first  meeting 
Mr.  Frost,  the  stranger  may  receive  an  erroneous  impression 
as  to  his  character,  because  of  his  soft-spoken  words  and  quiet 
demeanor.  But  by  no  means  are  these  an  indication  of  indif- 
ference or  lack  of  force,  for  on  acquaintance  Mr.  Frost 
impresses  every  one  with  his  alertness  and  well-controlled 
energy.  He  does  not  seek  nor  desire  commendation  from 
the  public,  but  modestly  accepts  from  friends  the  merited 
praise  which  is  given  him.  He  is  a  scholar  as  well  as  a  thor- 
ough business  man,  and  is  able  to  indulge  his  taste  for  the 
best  in  literature  from  his  own  fine  library. 


Sapf 


ir 


T  <»f«-    tr^    • 


hnd 

Its  and  vicis- 

ic  in 

St  that  is  in  One  who 

a  his  natural  sphere  after  many  efforts  is  Sanford  Henry 

Bolinger,  of  Shreveport,  Louisiana. 

He  was  born  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  County,  Illinois,  Janu- 
ary 5»  1855.  His  father,  John  B.  Bolinger,  was  born  in 
Altoona,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother,  Sophia  Corbin,  at 
f^  irr?!ted   to  Carroll 


ix 


or 
D 


^  H.  Bolinger  real- 

rt  nf  cnrn   1  !iiiroV\A|- 


wl 


11  uy  Lwu  yoK.c  of 
sc  wagon  carried 


attciiaiiig  a  1. 

location  of  his  lamcr  &  la 


h  IS  still  ( 


and  in 

e 
by 


F«3G>MI_IOa     ^f=M<^3M     aRO"^MAe 


SANFORD     HEINRY     BOLINQEIR 


Sanford   H.  Bolinger 


Left  to  their  own  guidance  young  men,  at  the  outset  of 
their  careers,  rarely  select  that  line  of  industry  or  that  profes- 
sion to  which  they  are  best  adapted.  Others  fail  after  consci- 
entious effort,  because  of  insufficient  understanding  of  their 
own  limitations  and  the  natural  trend  of  their  particular  tem- 
peraments and  abilities.  But  the  wiser  of  them  usually  find 
their  proper  level,  perhaps  after  many  experiments  and  vicis- 
situdes, and,  once  finding  it,  show  in  the  particular  plane  in 
which  they  are  settled  the  best  that  is  in  them.  One  who 
found  his  natural  sphere  after  many  efforts  is  Sanford  Henry 
Bolinger,  of  Shreveport,  Louisiana. 

He  was  born  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  County,  Illinois,  Janu- 
ary 5,  1855.  His  father,  John  B.  Bolinger,  was  born  in 
Altoona,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother,  Sophia  Corbin,  at 
Huntingdon,  in  the  same  State.  They  migrated  to  Carroll 
County  in  1853,  where  the  father  followed  the  vocation  of 
contractor  and  builder,  which,  perhaps,  gave  the  son  his  first 
taste  for  the  business  which  he  now  follows.  One  of  six 
children,  when  only  nine  years  old  Sanford  H.  Bolinger  real- 
ized something  of  the  burden  of  the  support  of  such  a  number 
on  the  little  forty-acre  farm  which  was  the  home  of  the  family. 
During  the  troublous  times  of  1864  the  family  journeyed 
cautiously  and  circuitously  through  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  avoid- 
ing the  unrest  in  Missouri,  and  reached  Kansas  a  week  after 
the  celebrated  Price's  raid.  A  wagon  drawn  by  two  yoke  of 
oxen,  a  large  lumber  wagon  and  a  one-horse  wagon  carried 
the  family  and  all  its  possessions. 

Young  Bolinger  had  gone  to  school  while  in  Illinois  and  in 
Kansas  he  had  the  same  restricted  educational  advantages, 
attending  a  little  school  fourteen  miles  west  of  Fort  Scott,  the 
location  of  his  father's  farm,  a  tract  which  is  still  owned  by 

277 


278  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Mr.  Bolinger's  mother.  When  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
taught  school  for  a  short  period.  Realizing  his  mental  limita- 
tions, however,  he  went  to  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where  he 
attended  the  normal  school  in  1874  and  1875.  Following  this 
course  he  taught  school  in  Oakville,  a  small  Scotch  village 
near  where  he  was  born;  but,  being  the  oldest  son,  he  re- 
turned to  the  farm  in  Kansas  at  his  father's  request.  In  1877 
he  started  to  work  the  farm  on  shares,  but  quit  after  getting  a 
crop  started  and  began  teaching  at  Godfrey,  Kansas,  a  coal 
mining  town  five  miles  from  Fort  Scott.  After  teaching  one 
term  he  represented  a  nursery  company  for  a  year,  on  a  salary, 
in  western  Kansas.  The  succeeding  year  he  carried  on  a 
nursery  business  for  himself,  but  the  third  year  a  crop  shortage 
left  him  practically  without  means  and  he  returned  to  Bourbon 
County,  Kansas,  near  his  home,  where  he  taught  school  to 
earn  sufficient  money  to  pay  board  bills  he  had  contracted. 
At  the  end  of  a  year  he  went  to  Nevada,  Missouri,  where  he 
became  proficient  in  penmanship,  and,  returning  to  Fort 
Scott,  became  assistant  superintendent  and  teacher  of  drawing 
and  penmanship  in  the  public  schools. 

It  was  not  until  Mr.  Bolinger  was  twenty-seven  years  old 
that  he  entered  the  lumber  business.  He  began  in  the  Fort 
Scott  yard  of  S.  A.  Brown  &  Co.,  of  which  Thomas  Brown 
was  manager.  He  received  a  salary  of  $35  a  month  and  con- 
tinued at  that  wage  for  a  period  of  four  or  five  months. 
Then  he  went  to  Cherryvale  and  engaged  with  G.  B.  Shaw  & 
Co.,  as  assistant  yardman.  The  company  operated  a  large 
line  of  yards  and  grain  elevators  in  Kansas,  the  head  of  the 
concern  now  being  a  successful  Chicago  banker,  while  M.  R. 
Grant,  the  manager  of  the  yard,  is  now  a  lumberman  at 
Meridian,  Mississippi.  Two  months  after  Mr.  Bolinger  had 
gone  to  Cherryvale  he  was  given  charge  of  the  yard  and  the 
local  office,  handling  both  lumber  and  grain.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  a  year  he  associated  himself  with  John  B.  Carey  in  a 
concern  known  as  the  Wolf  River  Lumber  Company,  putting 
in  a  yard  and  running  it  for  several  years  at  Grenola,  Kansas. 


SANFORD  H.  BOLINGER  279 

This  yard  subsequently  was  bought  by  the  Rock  Island  Lum- 
ber &  Manufacturing  Company,  business  having  become  dull 
and  the  two  yards  being  merged  under  the  ownership  of  the 
Rock  Island  concern. 

At  this  juncture  Mr.  Bolinger  joined  E.  H.  Anawalt,  who 
was  manager  of  the  Rock  Island  company's  line  of  yards,  in 
the  buying  of  a  yard  at  Fort  Scott.  This  venture  proved  un- 
remunerative  in  a  short  time  and  the  business  was  sold  to  the 
other  yards.  In  1889  Mr.  Bolinger  opened  an  office  at  Fort 
Scott  for  the  wholesaling  of  yellow  pine  lumber  for  the 
Southern  Pine  Lumber  Company,  at  the  head  of  which  con- 
cern was  T.  L.  L.  Temple,  now  of  Texarkana,  Arkansas. 
Fort  Scott  did  not  prove  to  be  the  proper  location  for  that 
enterprise,  and  Mr.  Bolinger  opened  an  office  at  Texarkana, 
Texas,  under  the  style  of  S.  H.  Bolinger  &  Co.,  the  other 
interest  being  that  of  the  Southern  Pine  Lumber  Company, 
composed  of  Benjamin  Whitaker,  T.  L.  L.  Temple  and  C.  M. 
Putman.  He  also  held  a  working  interest  in  the  Southern 
Pine  Lumber  Company.  Later,  Mr.  Bolinger  bought  out 
Messrs.  Whitaker,  Putman  and  Temple,  and  Max  I.  Mosher, 
his  stenographer,  was  given  a  share  in  the  business. 

Prior  to  this  Mr.  Bolinger  had  backed  a  sawmill  concern 
with  some  of  his  own  capital,  and  upon  the  failure  of  this 
enterprise,  he  assumed  possession  of  the  plant  and  began  its 
operation.  The  mill  was  located  at  a  point  then  known  as 
Martin's  Switch,  near  Lewisville,  Arkansas,  on  the  Shreveport 
branch  of  the  Cotton  Belt  Route.  The  mill  business  was 
organized  under  the  name  of  the  Martin  Lumber  Company, 
and  Martin's  Switch  subsequently  was  given  the  name  of 
Bolinger.  While  this  plant  was  running  the  company  leased 
a  mill  at  Alden  Bridge,  Louisiana,  and  operated  it  in  connec- 
tion with  the  other  plant.  A  tract  of  timber  was  secured  near 
Plain  Dealing,  Louisiana,  and  the  plant  of  the  Bolinger  (Ark- 
ansas) concern  was  moved  to  the  new  location,  which  was 
named  Bolinger,  Louisiana. 

Adversity  as  well  as  prosperity  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Mr. 


28o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Bolinger,  and  during  the  commercial  panic  of  1893  he  and  his 
associates  were  financially  embarrassed,  though  the  plant  was 
kept  in  operation  until  July,  1896.  The  trouble  was  due  to 
the  prevailing  business  depression  and  the  expenditure  of 
much  money  in  the  construction  of  a  new  mill  and  a  railroad. 
The  property  again  passed  into  the  control  of  Mr.  Bolinger 
who,  with  W.  B.  Boggs,  formed  S.  H.  Bolinger  &  Co.,  Lim- 
ited. Timber  tributary  to  the  mill  was  bought  at  intervals  and 
eighteen  miles  of  logging  railroad  with  spurs  and  a  full  equip- 
ment of  motive  power  and  cars  is  operated.  The  plant  is  a 
modern  one  and  a  planing  mill,  waterworks,  electric  light 
plant,  machine  shop  and  general  store  form  part  of  the  invest- 
ment. 

While  Mr.  Bolinger  directs  the  operations  of  the  Bolinger, 
Louisiana,  plant,  he  is  a  stockholder  and  director  in  the  E.  W. 
Gates  Lumber  Company,  of  Yellowpine,  Alabama;  the  prin- 
cipal owner  in  a  lumber  yard  at  Redfield,  Kansas;  a  stock- 
holder and  director  in  the  Continental  Bank  &  Trust  Company, 
of  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  and  owner  of  more  than  40,000  acres 
of  pine  timbered  lands  in  Alabama.  He  owns  a  farm  and 
some  property  near  Fort  Scott  and  a  beautiful  home  and  other 
property  at  Shreveport.  He  is  also  a  stockholder  in  and  vice 
president  of  the  Shreveport  Creosoting  Company,  Limited,  of 
Shreveport,  Louisiana,  organized  in  1906  with  a  paid  in  capital 
of  $150,000. 

He  stands  high  in  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  was  one 
of  the  earliest  to  join  the  order  of  Hoo-Hoo.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder and  a  prominent  member  of  the  Athletic  Club  of 
Shreveport. 

Mr.  Bolinger  married  Miss  Florence  Green,  a  daughter  of 
Rev.  J.  H.  Green,  of  Redfield,  Kansas,  at  Wyandotte,  Kansas, 
June  9,  1883.  Of  this  marriage  have  been  born  two  sons  and 
two  daughters  —  Bannas  Hudson,  John  Harvey,  Minta  Ursie 
and  Isa  Nancy  Sophia  Bolinger.  Bannas  Hudson,  the  eldest 
son,  who  recently  has  come  of  age,  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
company  and  its  assistant  manager. 


Th 


r 


Risinr  '- 
yard  ' 


ot  commercial  creation 
".the  


Dermen, 


n  prominent  m  the  indus- 
try for  many  years,  while  several  brothers  are  today  engaged 
in  manufacturing  lumber  in  the  southwestern  section  of  the 
country.  He  came  by  his  predilection  for  lumbering  natur- 
ally, though  his  advancement  was  not  made  by  one  jump,  but 
has  been  step  by  step,  from  a  comparatively  simple  and  unim- 
j  Seen  spent  in  the  lumber 

i  he  now  is 


ha« 

mnre  or  less  artivf:   nrirt  fn   nlav.      He  is 

^ 

r  anH  T 

his 

.  (  ■•              .    »           • 

AT 

i  ;e  was  b^^^'       v^.  v.... ^ 
vhere   his                .f  ti    ^ 
In  this  u 
'•^^red  Willi  u 

^  "  reachcu  vn^ 
"1  roved 

Wli' 

Mr.  ! 
lumber  bu^  stully. 


RBTBOT     H08«=lMAe    aAMOHT 


m 


-THOMAS    SAMPSON     FOSTER 


Thomas  S.  Foster 


Rising  from  an  unimportant  position  in  a  retail  lumber 
yard  to  the  active  management  of  one  of  the  largest  manu- 
facturing yellow  pine  concerns  in  the  Southwest  is,  in  brief, 
the  career  of  Thomas  S.  Foster,  of  Houston,  Texas.  His 
success  has  come  through  his  power  of  commercial  creation 
and  his  executive  ability,  combined  with  the  foresight  which 
has  enabled  him  to  take  advantage  of  opportunities. 

Thomas  Sampson  Foster  comes  of  a  family  of  lumbermen, 
his  father,  John  Foster,  having  been  prominent  in  the  indus- 
try for  many  years,  while  several  brothers  are  today  engaged 
in  manufacturing  lumber  in  the  southwestern  section  of  the 
country.  He  came  by  his  predilection  for  lumbering  natur- 
ally, though  his  advancement  was  not  made  by  one  jump,  but 
has  been  step  by  step,  from  a  comparatively  simple  and  unim- 
portant position.  His  whole  life  has  been  spent  in  the  lumber 
business  and  his  efforts  have  not  been  in  vain,  for  he  now  is 
vice  president  of  the  Foster  Lumber  Company,  of  Kansas  City, 
Missouri,  and  has  interests  in  two  score  other  operations,  in 
all  of  which  he  has  a  more  or  less  active  part  to  play.  He  is 
the  oldest  son  of  John  Foster  and  Letitia  L.  (Sampson)  Foster, 
his  brothers  being  Ben  B.  Foster,  Samuel  A.  Foster,  James 
N.  Foster  and  George  W.  Foster.  He  was  born  February 
i6,  1861,  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  where  his  father  at  that 
time  was  running  a  lumber  business.  In  this  thriving  and 
prosperous  city,  even  at  that  day,  he  was  reared  with  all  pos- 
sible care  and  attention  by  his  parents.  When  he  reached  the 
age  at  which  he  could  enter  the  public  schools  he  proved 
himself  a  willing  pupil,  so  that  he  had  an  excellent  education 
when  he  left  school  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years. 

Mr.  Foster,  Senior,  was  anxious  to  have  his  son  learn  the 
lugiber  business,  which  he  himself  followed  so  successfully. 

281 


282  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

His  wish  was  to  have  the  young  man  lighten  some  of  his  bur- 
dens in  the  management  of  his  business.  So  young  Thomas 
was  sent  to  Irving,  Kansas,  in  1880,  to  begin  his  training  in  the 
yard  of  John  Foster  &  Son,  located  at  that  point.  The  retail 
business  was  but  a  step  in  his  training,  yet  it  was  one  that 
Mr.  Foster  looks  upon  as  being  of  considerable  importance 
in  the  shaping  of  his  career.  The  Irving  yard  was  a  busy  one, 
catering  to  the  needs  of  a  large  agricultural  community.  The 
young  employee,  despite  his  family  connection  with  the  owners 
of  the  yard,  was  given  no  privileges  not  enjoyed  by  his  co- 
workers. He  tallied  lumber,  learned  to  grade  and  inspect, 
entered  the  office  and  mastered  its  details  and,  lastly,  looked 
after  the  trade,  as  a  salesman. 

After  a  residence  at  Irving  of  several  years  Mr.  Foster  was 
transferred  by  his  father,  John  Foster,  head  of  the  household 
and  pioneer  in  the  business,  to  Randolph  and  subsequently  to 
Leonardville,  both  in  Kansas,  in  each  instance  taking  charge 
of  the  yards  at  those  points.  All  the  while  he  was  gaining  in 
experience  and  demonstrating  his  capabilities  of  managing  a 
business  of  greater  magnitude  than  those  with  which  he  thus 
far  had  been  entrusted.  As  Kansas  was  becoming  more  set- 
tled each  year,  the  prospects  of  doing  a  larger  volume  of  busi- 
ness became  evident  and  Mr.  Foster  began  the  establishment 
of  yards  in  some  of  the  growing  pioneer  towns  in  western 
Kansas,  for  John  Foster  &  Son.  He  put  in  yards  at  Almena, 
Norton,  Colby,  Goodland,  Oberlin,  Scott  City,  Leoti  and 
Manchester.  Placing  efficient  and  trusted  men  in  charge  of 
these  yards,  Mr.  Foster  became  auditor  for  the  entire  system 
of  yards  conducted  by  the  concern,  and  looked  after  the  busi- 
ness of  all  of  them,  about  fifteen  in  number  at  that  time. 

About  1890  Mr.  Foster  was  sent  into  the  South  country  by 
his  father  to  look  after  the  interests  of  John  Foster  &  Son  and 
to  give  special  attention  to  the  firm's  growing  business.  Up 
to  this  time  his  experience  had  been  mainly  that  of  retailing, 
though  on  a  broad  scale,  but  in  the  South  he  had  much  to  do 
with  the  buying  of  lumber  for  the  yards  of  the  concern  and 


THOMAS  S.  FOSTER  283 

was  brought  in  contact  with  the  mills,  which  gave  him  an 
opportunity  to  study  manufacturing  methods.  Nine  years 
after  his  entry  into  the  South  he  began  the  buying  of  timber, 
and  his  purchases,  up  to  January  i,  1906,  had  reached  a  total 
of  140,000  acres  of  yellow  pine,  all  of  which,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  18,000  acres,  was  virgin  timber. 

These  timber  purchases  were  made  for  the  Foster  Lumber 
Company,  which  was  organized  in  1896,  as  the  successor  to 
the  firm  of  John  Foster  &  Son.  A  mill  was  built  at  Clines- 
burg,  Texas,  in  1894,  which  has  a  daily  cutting  capacity  of 
150,000  feet,  dry  kiln  capacity  for  the  mill  cut,  and  a  shed  that 
will  hold  600,000  feet  of  lumber.  Backing  up  this  mill  is  a 
timber  supply  of  approximately  500,000,000  feet. 

When  the  Walker  County  Lumber  Company  was  organ- 
ized in  July,  1902,  Mr.  Foster  was  chosen  president  of  the 
concern,  the  other  officers  being  M.  L.  Womack,  Junior, 
vice  president,  and  W.  B.  Clint,  secretary,  treasurer  and  gen- 
eral manager.  A  mill  with  a  daily  capacity  of  80,000  feet  was 
built  at  Elmina,  Texas,  the  company  taking  its  name  from  the 
county  in  which  the  plant  is  located.  The  mill  is  connected 
by  a  railroad  with  tracts  of  timber,  owned  by  the  company  and 
estimated  to  contain  350,000,000  feet.  This  road  is  owned  by 
the  Elmina  &  Eastern  Transportation  Company,  which  in 
1906  had  about  twenty-four  miles  of  road  already  laid  and  four 
miles  under  construction.  Mr.  Foster  is  president  of  the 
Elmina  &  Eastern  company,  which  has  a  separate  organization 
from  the  lumber  business.  Another  large  manufacturing 
operation  with  which  Mr.  Foster  is  connected  is  the  Thomp- 
son &  Tucker  Lumber  Company,  of  Willard,  Texas,  of  which 
he  is  vice  president.  He  is  interested,  as  well,  in  the  Gebert 
Shingle  Company,  Limited,  of  New  Iberia,  Louisiana,  which 
turns  out  250,000  cypress  shingles  a  day,  and  of  which  W.  H. 
Norris,  of  Houston,  is  president.  The  Foster  Lumber  Com- 
pany owns  a  one-half  interest  in  the  shingle  concern.  In 
addition  to  the  concerns  already  enumerated,  Mr.  Foster  has 
oth^r  interests.     He  is  a  director  of  the  American  National 


284  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Bank,  of  Houston;  vice  president  of  the  Clarendon  Lumber 
Company,  of  Clarendon,  Texas;  vice  president  of  the  Fraser- 
Johnson  Brick  Company,  of  Emory,  Texas,  and  a  director  of 
the  Fort  Worth  Telegram^  a  daily  newspaper  published  at  Fort 
Worth. 

Mr.  Foster  has  never  interested  himself  in  politics,  for  the 
reason  that  he  has  been  busily  engaged  in  managing  the  afTairs 
of  the  various  enterprises  with  which  he  is  connected,  and  his 
diversified  interests  are  widely  scattered.  He  has  been  enthu- 
siastic in  the  work  of  the  Yellow  Pine  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation, as  all  of  his  direct  interests  are  in  wood  represented 
by  that  body.  He  is  an  Elk  and  a  member  of  the  Thalian 
Club  and  the  Houston  Golf  Club,  of  Houston.  It  can  hardly 
be  said  that  Mr.  Foster  has  any  recreation  which  may  be  called 
a  hobby  with  him.  He  has  busied  himself  in  the  buying  of 
timber  lands  and  has  found  health  and  pleasure  in  going 
through  the  woods  and  estimating  and  examining  these  tracts. 

Mr.  Foster  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  having  been 
Miss  Addie  Miller,  of  Leonardville,  Kansas,  whom  he  married 
November  17,  1889,  and  who  left  a  daughter,  Letitia  J.  Foster. 
The  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Florence  Wilson,  formerly  of  Min- 
neapolis, whom  he  married  December  22,  1897.  Mr.  Foster 
and  Mrs.  Wilson  had  been  sweethearts  during  their  school 
days,  but  had  separated  and  both  had  married. 


Will' 


r%  ^^-^ 


If 


Side  by  -' 
out  the  <■ 


ed    by 
tc  man  ot  northern  nativity  who  has 
ct  commercial  development  of  the  South  is  William 
of  Houston,  Texas.     Lumbering  came  by  i 

'».     I  eat-grandfather,  grandfather  and 

were  sawmill  men  and   it  is,   therefore,  but  a  r  ! 

sequence  that  he,  too,  should  engage  in  this  industry. 

William   Henry  Norris   was  born  in    Nottingham,    New 

Hampshire,  April  lo,  1868,  the  fourth  of  that  name,  with  but 

one  break  in  four  generations,  who  first  saw  light  in  the  same 

m  in  the  d.     He  is  the  son  of 

!c)    Norris.     The  first  William 
ne  from  Warwickshire,  Eng- 

d  at  Nottinp-- 


Norru  . 


r]      """ 


-  attri*^"^"'^  '^f 
cend. 

ai 

-uuca- 
-led 


vjwea  iiic  L 
mation  for  the 
menting  his  study  by  a  c  10   i. 

aiFIROM     VFIM3H     MAI_I_IIW 


VS/IL.L.IAM     HENRV     NORRIS 


William  H.  Norris 


Side  by  side  have  the  northerner  and  the  southerner  worked 
out  the  development  of  the  industrial  South.  To  neither  one 
alone  can  be  given  the  credit,  but  to  the  combination  of  the 
energy  and  sturdiness  of  the  one  with  the  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  sectional  conditions  and  needs  possessed  by  the 
other.  A  fine  type  of  the  man  of  northern  nativity  who  has 
aided  in  the  commercial  development  of  the  South  is  William 
H.  Norris,  of  Houston,  Texas.  Lumbering  came  by  inheri- 
tance to  Mr.  Norris.  His  great-grandfather,  grandfather  and 
uncle  were  sawmill  men  and  it  is,  therefore,  but  a  natural 
sequence  that  he,  too,  should  engage  in  this  industry. 

William  Henry  Norris  was  born  in  Nottingham,  New 
Hampshire,  April  lo,  1868,  the  fourth  of  that  name,  with  but 
one  break  in  four  generations,  who  first  saw  light  in  the  same 
room  in  the  same  old  family  homestead.  He  is  the  son  of 
Abbott  and  Caroline  (Hoague)  Norris.  The  first  William 
Norris  and  his  brother  Sias  came  from  Warwickshire,  Eng- 
land, early  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  and  settled  at  Notting- 
ham. Sias  went  to  Canada,  where  a  branch  of  the  family  still 
flourishes.  The  great-grandfather  and  grandfather  of  Mr. 
Norris  remained  in  New  Hampshire  and  ran  an  ''up  and 
down"  water  sawmill  that  was  still  operating  in  1876.  Its 
capacity  was  about  2,000  feet  a  day.  The  best  attributes  of 
these  ancestors  are  combined  in  their  Texas  descendant. 

Abbott  Norris,  the  father,  was  a  general  merchant  at 
Nottingham.  The  boy  obtained  the  rudiments  of  an  educa- 
tion at  the  public  schools  near  his  home  and  then  attended 
Putnam  Academy,  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
followed  the  general  line  of  instruction  and  passed  an  exam- 
ination for  the  Institute  of  Technology,  of  Boston,  supple- 
menting his  study  by  a  course   in   mechanical  engineering. 

285 


286  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

But  before  he  could  enter  the  technical  school  it  became 
necessary  for  him  to  go  to  work,  and  he  accepted  the 
conditions  with  characteristic  cheerfulness. 

His  first  work  was  in  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  Boyd, 
Leeds  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  where  he  remained  until  the  latter 
part  of  1889.  In  this,  his  first  connection  with  the  business 
world,  Mr.  Norris  began  at  the  very  bottom  and  rose  by 
gradual  stages  to  the  position  of  traveling  representative. 
In  the  cold  and  wet  of  that  rigorous  clime,  however,  he 
contracted  successive  colds  which  finally  resulted  in  a  severe 
attack  of  rheumatic  fever,  compeUing  him  to  retire  from 
business  for  a  time  and  eventually  to  seek  a  warmer  climate. 

Mr.  Norris'  entry  into  the  lumber  business  was  largely 
accidental.  In  going  South  he  had  no  distinct  purpose  in 
view  other  than  to  avoid  for  a  season  the  cold  of  northern 
winters;  but  he  turned  instinctively  to  his  uncle,  W.  B. 
Norris,  who  was,  and  is  still,  a  yellow  pine  manufacturer  at 
Westlake,  Louisiana.  He  was  immediately  attracted  by  the 
lumber  business  and  soon  joined  his  uncle  in  the  management 
of  his  properties.  W.  B.  Norris  had  erected  at  Westlake,  just 
after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  a  sawmill  which  is  still  running. 
It  was  about  this  mill  that  the  nephew  gained  his  knowledge 
of  the  manufacturing  end  of  the  business.  He  stayed  at 
Westlake  until  1893,  when  he  went  to  Houston,  Texas,  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the  T.  M.  Richardson  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Oklahoma  City,  as  traveling  salesman  for  its  Houston 
office,  remaining  with  that  concern  nearly  a  year  and  until  its 
Houston  business  was  sold  to  the  late  J.  I.  Campbell,  who 
afterward  formed  the  J.  I.  Campbell  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Norris  is  now  the  receiver. 

On  leaving  the  Richardson  company  Mr.  Norris  deter- 
mined to  have  done  with  inferior  positions  forever,  and  he 
immediately  formed  a  copartnership  with  J.  B.  Beatty,  a  man 
well  known  to  the  trade,  under  the  firm  name  of  Norris  & 
Beatty.  This  firm  continued  in  business  in  Houston  until 
1896,  when  it  dissolved  and  Mr.  Norris  formed  the  W.  H. 


WILLIAM  H.  NORRIS  287 

Norris  Lumber  Co.,  not  incorporated.  In  this  venture  Mr. 
Norris  had  for  his  backer  an  old  schoolmate  and  boyhood 
friend,  W.  A.  Russell,  of  Boston,  now  president  of  the 
Chandler  Steel  Company,  of  Ayer,  Massachusetts.  Mr. 
Russell  became  the  silent  partner  of  the  company  and  so 
remained  for  several  years. 

On  January  2,  1902,  the  W.  H.  Norris  Lumber  Company 
W2LS  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Texas,  by  W. 
H.  Norris  and  William  E.  Ramsay  and  C.  W.  Penoyer,  the 
two  last  named  being  respectively  president  and  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Bradley-Ramsay  Lumber  Company,  of  Lake 
Charles,  Louisiana.  The  capital  stock  of  the  company  was 
fixed  at  $100,000  and  the  following  officers  were  elected  and 
still  hold  office:  President,  W.  H.  Norris;  vice  president,  C. 
W.  Penoyer;  secretary,  N.  C.  Hoyt. 

The  Norris  company  is  classed  as  both  a  manufacturer  and 
wholesaler.  It  has  a  half  interest  in  the  famous  Gebert  Shingle 
Company,  Limited,  of  New  Iberia,  Louisiana,  and  has  large 
interests  in  pine  and  cypress  mills  at  various  places.  It  has 
large  timber  holdings  in  Louisiana  for  future  operations. 
Since  the  date  of  its  incorporation  the  company  has  con- 
tinually strengthened  its  resources  and  increased  its  business 
until  it  is  now  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  important  factors 
in  the  southern  lumber  market. 

Mr.  Norris  is  the  receiver  of  the  great  properties  of  the 
J.  I.  Campbell  Company,  under  the  appointment  of  the  State 
courts,  as  well  as  of  the  properties  of  the  Warren  &  Corsi- 
cana  Pacific  Railway,  and  the  Tyler  County  Land  &  Lumber 
Company.  His  work  is  so  systematized  and  regulated  that  he 
is  able  to  attend  to  these  varied  interests  without  trouble. 

Mr.  Norris,  although  of  northern  birth  and  education,  has 
won  his  success  in  life  in  the  South,  where  the  best  oppor- 
tunities are  offered  to  the  enterprising  young  men  of  the 
country.  He  is  a  distinct  type  of  the  advanced  business  man, 
and,  although  not  "to  the  manner  born,"  he  is  bound  indis- 
solubly  to  the  fortunes  of  his  adopted  section.     His   record 


288  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

shows  his  indomitable  nerve  and  energy  and  his  honesty  of 
purpose  and  character.  His  energy  is  not  of  that  aggressive 
sort  that  seeks  to  impress  itself  upon  others — rather  he  accom- 
plishes things  while  others,  perhaps,  are  dreaming.  Although 
modest  and  retiring  in  disposition,  he  is  a  born  leader  and 
takes  first  rank  in  any  enterprise — business,  political  or  social — 
in  which  he  may  be  engaged. 

Mr.  Norris  is  a  member  of  the  Houston,  Thalian  and  Elks 
clubs  of  his  home  city,  as  well  as  of  the  Houston  Turn  Verien. 
He  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  a 
Shriner.  He  has  been  the  snark  of  the  universe  of  the  Concat- 
enated Order  of  Hoo-Hoo,  and  is  an  honorary  member  of 
the  great  electrical  order,  The  Sons  of  Jove.  He  has  always 
been  an  active  worker  in  the  Lumbermen's  Association  of 
Texas.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Cypress  Manufacturers'  As- 
sociation of  Louisiana  and  the  Southern  Lumber  Manufac- 
turers' Association.  His  election  to  the  supreme  head  of 
Hoo-Hoo  was  accomplished  at  the  Milwaukee  annual  in  1902, 
upon  which  occasion  he  was  the  unanimous  choice  of  the 
membership  assembled  from  every  State  in  the  Union.  And 
thereby  hangs  a  tale.  There  was  but  one  objection  to  Mr. 
Norris  in  the  minds  of  those  staid  business  men  of  the  North, 
and  that  was  his  status  as  a  probably  confirmed  bachelor. 
While  the  convention  did  not  suspect  that  he  had  a  matri- 
monial plan  afoot,  he  was  given  warning,  and  readily  promised 
to  appear  at  the  next  annual  with  a  bride,  or  not  at  all.  How 
well  he  kept  his  word  those  Hoo-Hoo  who  attended  the 
Buffalo  annual  know.  When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Norris 
appeared  on  the  scene  it  was  the  occasion  of  a  demonstration 
which  they  must  long  remember.  Mr.  Norris  wedded  Miss 
Martha  Cloman  at  El  Paso,  Texas,  August  25,  1903,  and  the 
happy  couple  now  possess  a  daughter,  Lucile. 


Lynch    •        tuson 


Where 
a 


s  to  men  who  arc  willing  to  > 
igc  of  them.    Lynch  Davidson,  of  Houston,  I 
.  be  cited  as  an  c  of  what  a  n 

lines. 
1  Davidson  was  born  January  3,  1873,  at  Cotile  Land- 
ing, near  Boyce,  Rapides  Parish,  Louisiana,  the  son  of  Neal 
Davidson  and  Laura  (Lynch)  Davidson,  the  former  of  Scotch 
and  the  latter  of  Irish  extraction.  Bequests  of  prosperous 
plantations  made  to  Neal  Davidson  had  been  swept  away  dur- 
incr  the  reconstruction  oeriod  in  Louisiana  and  the  young 
T  -^   ^T^f*  anpw      In   1874  the  family 

I   /»VOC        vjl'li/>r^      the 

"'son 
i irte  prac- 

.t :„._  _ 


I  u  meaiu 

-n  necessity  that 
n  of  his  birth  and  apply 
tor  ity  County  Lumber  Com- 

pany, at  c  -  was  scarce  in  that  section  in 

those  days,  t  seemed  eager  to  do  any- 

thing, he  was  mill  handling  lumber  and 


L.VNCH     DAVIDSON 


Lynch  Davidson 


Where  hundreds  of  manufacturers  are  following  but  one 
avenue  for  the  distribution  of  the  product  of  their  mills,  the 
man  who  can  open  up  and  develop  a  practically  new  line  and 
cater  to  it  successfully  is  an  individual  to  whom  success  is 
bound  to  come.  The  lumber  industry  in  all  its  complexity 
affords  such  opportunities  to  men  who  are  willing  to  find  and 
take  advantage  of  them.  Lynch  Davidson,  of  Houston,  Texas, 
may  be  cited  as  an  example  of  what  a  manufacturer  and  dis- 
tributor of  lumber  may  accomplish  along  special  lines. 

Lynch  Davidson  was  born  January  3,  1873,  at  Cotile  Land- 
ing, near  Boyce,  Rapides  Parish,  Louisiana,  the  son  of  Neal 
Davidson  and  Laura  (Lynch)  Davidson,  the  former  of  Scotch 
and  the  latter  of  Irish  extraction.  Bequests  of  prosperous 
plantations  made  to  Neal  Davidson  had  been  swept  away  dur- 
ing the  reconstruction  period  in  Louisiana  and  the  young 
planter  was  forced  to  begin  life  anew.  In  1874  the  family 
located  at  Groesbeck,  Liestone  County,  Texas,  where  the 
husband  and  father  lived  but  a  few  years.  Lynch  Davidson 
had  nothing  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of  early  educational  advan- 
tages, most  of  his  education  having  been  obtained  in  the  prac- 
tical school  of  life  in  his  later  years.  He  did  attend  the  winter 
sessions  at  the  little  district  school  at  Groesbeck  until  he  had 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  but  long  before  his  school 
days  had  ended  he  knew  full  well  what  it  meant  to  work,  and 
work  hard,  for  a  living. 

It  was  no  boyish  fancy  but  rather  stern  necessity  that  led  him, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  to  leave  the  town  of  his  birth  and  apply 
for  work  at  the  office  of  the  Trinity  County  Lumber  Com- 
pany, at  Groveton,  Texas.  Labor  was  scarce  in  that  section  in 
those  days,  and,  as  the  boy  applicant  seemed  eager  to  do  any- 
thing, he  was  set  to  work  about  the  mill  handling  lumber  and 

289 


290  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

finish.  He  did  not  balk  at  the  hard  tasks  he  was  put  to  and 
earned  the  pay  of  a  man.  As  he  grew  in  years  and  strength 
he  worked  about  the  machines,  and  finally  qualified  for  posi- 
tions at  other  mills  and  secured  employment.  He  operated 
planing  machines  successively  for  the  Trinity  County  Lum- 
ber Company;  William  Cameron  &  Co.,  at  Saron,  and  the 
Lutcher  &  Moore  Lumber  Company,  at  Orange,  Texas. 
Young  Davidson  was  not  a  robust  youth  and  the  heavy  labor 
involved  in  the  handling  of  lumber  about  the  mills  was  sap- 
ping his  strength.  Besides,  he  had  gained  a  knowledge  of 
the  manufacture  of  lumber  which  he  thought  could  be  put  to 
better  use  than  in  manual  labor  at  a  mill. 

Reaching  the  point  where  his  health  was  failing  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  demand  his  taking  up  some  other  occupation,  Mr. 
Davidson,  in  1891,  entered  the  office  of  the  M.  T.  Jones  Lum- 
ber Company,  at  Laredo,  Texas.  He  had  a  valuable  knowledge 
of  grading  and  mill  work,  and  he  used  this  training  to  excel- 
lent advantage  in  looking  after  the  retail  trade  for  the  concern 
whose  employ  he  had  entered.  It  was  not  long  before  he  had 
demonstrated  his  worth  and  given  indication  of  his  ability  to 
handle  a  wider  and  greater  range  of  business.  The  M.  T. 
Jones  Lumber  Company  was  doing  an  extensive  business  in 
Mexico  and  it  was  into  this  country  that  the  young  and  am- 
bitious salesman  was  sent.  Mr.  Davidson  was  alive  to  the 
chance  afforded  him  and  during  the  three  years  he  remained 
on  the  road  for  the  Laredo  house  he  gained  an  enviable  repu- 
tation as  a  salesman.  His  next  venture  was  as  manager  of  the 
Monterey  Sash  &  Door  Company,  at  Monterey,  in  the  State 
of  Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico. 

But  Mr.  Davidson  tired  of  Mexican  life  and  the  sash  and 
door  business,  and  a  desire  again  to  handle  lumber  possessed 
him.  So  in  May,  1897,  he  moved  to  Houston,  Texas,  with 
which  city  and  various  of  its  great  lumbering  concerns  he 
since  has  been  identified.  His  first  efforts  were  directed  to 
the  transaction  of  a  lumber  business  on  his  own  account,  but 
he  abandoned  this  field  to  become  secretary  and  sales  manager 


LYNCH  DAVIDSON  291 

of  the  Emporia  Lumber  Company.  It  was  during  his  five 
years'  connection  with  this  company,  of  which  S.  F.  Carter  is 
general  manager,  that  he  established  a  reputation  as  a  business 
getter,  for  he  was  most  successful  in  securing  large  contracts 
for  the  company.  He  put  much  energy  into  the  affairs  en- 
trusted to  him,  more,  perhaps,  than  the  average  sales  agent  is 
wont  to  do,  and  made  himself  familiar  with  the  sources  of 
demand,  the  kind  of  material  desired  by  each  particular  buyer 
and  the  purposes  to  which  the  lumber  was  put. 

Mr.  Davidson  determined  to  undertake  a  specialty  business 
— the  catering  to  railroad  companies  and  other  large  con- 
sumers by  furnishing  them  material  upon  their  own  specifica- 
tions. With  this  purpose  in  view  he  organized  the  Continen- 
tal Lumber  Company,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  in  January, 
1903.  The  Continental  company  was  essentially  a  wholesale 
concern,  and,  to  provide  for  adequate  supplies  of  stock,  he 
associated  himself  with  J.  M.  West  in  organizing  the  West 
Lumber  Company,  at  Westville,  Texas,  which  concern  now 
operates  three  sawmills  having  a  combined  annual  capacity  of 
about  40,000,000  feet  of  yellow  pine  lumber. 

Having  established  mill  connections  with  the  West  Lum- 
ber Company  and  made  arrangements  for  stocks  of  other  mills, 
Mr.  Davidson  sought  business  with  his  accustomed  energy. 
He  made  a  specialty  of  that  class  of  trade  which  does  not  ap- 
peal to  the  manufacturer  of  yard  stock  or  structural  timbers. 
The  business  established  in  1903  has  been  a  success  from  its 
inception.  In  1904  Ben  S.  Woodhead  became  associated 
with  Mr.  Davidson  and  has  proved  an  extremely  valuable 
lieutenant.  The  Continental  Lumber  Company  probably 
handles  more  tie  contracts  than  any  other  concern  of  like  cap- 
ital. It  furnishes  any  kind  of  tie  that  may  be  desired  and  in 
almost  any  quantity.  The  company  also  handles  more  treated 
ties  than  any  other  lumber  institution.  Approximately  70,- 
000,000  feet  of  lumber  is  distributed  each  year  by  the  com- 
pany. 

Besides  being  the  executive  head  of  the  Continental  Lum- 


292  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ber  Company,  Mr.  Davidson  is  vice  president  of  the  West 
Lumber  Company,  which  has  a  paid-in  capital  of  $200,000,  and 
holds  the  same  relative  position  in  the  Mutual  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Austin,  Texas,  a  comparatively  new  concern  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  putting  in  retail  line  yards  throughout 
Texas.  Mr.  Davidson  is  a  stockholder  in  the  National  City 
Bank  of  Houston. 

Undue  self-esteem  never  has  marred  Mr.  Davidson^s  char- 
acter. He  is  as  pleasant  and  afTable  today  as  he  was  when  he 
held  the  humble  position  of  mill  hand  at  Groveton.  He  be- 
lieves in  living  up  to  a  contract  even  if  its  performance  costs 
more  money  than  is  to  be  received.  He  has  exemplified  his 
belief  to  his  own  loss ;  but  he  expects  the  same  faithfulness  to 
contract  on  the  part  of  others,  and  in  one  case  he  carried  the 
matter  to  the  highest  court  to  enforce  his  rights. 

Mr.  Davidson  married  Miss  Katie  H.  Calvit,  of  Houston, 
June  26,  1897.  Three  daughters  have  been  born  to  the 
couple — Marion,  Lois  and  Katie  Lynch  Davidson.  Mr.  David- 
son is  a  member  of  the  Elks,  Houston  Golf  and  Z.  Z.  clubs, 
and  is  a  progressive  and  useful  citizen. 


1  charge  kept  pace  and  i 
ship.    A  general  in  c; 

a  F.  Bonner,  of  Houston, 
.nan  and  as  a  man. 

_,  ^         ps,  best  known  by  reason  of  his  par- 

,^ .i  in  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  the  Kirby  Lumber 

Company,  of  Houston,  but  his  training  in  the  industry  has 
been  from  boyhood,  as  he  was  born  and  reared  within  sound 
of  the  woodsman's  ax.  His  earlier  commercial  career,  after 
leaving  the  piny  woods  of  eastern  Texas,  was  devoted  for 
seve-^^  -  -'  *'  *^^-  ^'"^'^uction  of  oil  and  the  development  of 
*^  *  "T*ive  of  that  Commonwealth, 

lu  uie  Lone  Star  State,  and  he 

uer  was  born  April  14,     '^^~    at 
^exas.     His  father  was  ^m 


T, 


vv  c  ot  a  1  . 

Star  Ben; 


la  and 

miles  west  of  1  ler 

i  hi  It  a  rough  home  of  in  that 

It  was  a  restricted  life, 

for  nts  was  slow  and  awkward, 

the  1.  ^'  Crockett,  Texas,  fifty  miles 

away,  100  miles  away. 

9,3i^MOa     I^IJ><MAWF1     HIMALM3a 


r 


BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN     BONNER 


Benjamin   F.   Bonner 


Productive  in  the  way  of  big  enterprises,  the  great  South- 
west has  been  productive  also  of  men  of  brawn  and  brains  to 
manage  them.  And  as  these  enterprises  have  grown  and 
expanded  so  have  the  men  in  charge  kept  pace  and  maintained 
their  position  of  able  commandership.  A  general  in  executive 
force  in  field  and  office  is  Benjamin  F.  Bonner,  of  Houston, 
Texas,  who  is  honored  as  a  lumberman  and  as  a  man. 

Mr.  Bonner  is,  perhaps,  best  known  by  reason  of  his  par- 
ticipation in  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  the  Kirby  Lumber 
Company,  of  Houston,  but  his  training  in  the  industry  has 
been  from  boyhood,  as  he  was  born  and  reared  within  sound 
of  the  woodsman's  ax.  His  earlier  commercial  career,  after 
leaving  the  piny  woods  of  eastern  Texas,  was  devoted  for 
several  years  to  the  production  of  oil  and  the  development  of 
the  great  oil  fields  of  Texas.  A  native  of  that  Commonwealth, 
his  main  interests  are  centered  in  the  Lone  Star  State,  and  he 
is  a  loyal  son  of  the  Southwest. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Bonner  was  born  April  14,  1869,  at 
Lufkin,  Angelina  County,  Texas.  His  father  was  William 
Henry  Bonner,  and  his  mother  Malinda  (Blackburn)  Bonner, 
who  came  of  a  family  well  known  in  the  annals  of  the  Lone 
Star  State.  Benjamin  was  but  three  years  old  when  his  father 
moved  to  a  point  on  the  Neches  River  and  established  a  ferry, 
called  Bonner's  Ferry,  connecting  by  this  simple  means  of 
transportation  Angelina  and  Trinity  counties,  Texas.  In  the 
Neches  bottoms,  eight  miles  west  of  Lufkin,  the  elder  Bonner 
cleared  his  plantation  and  built  a  rough  home  of  logs.  In  that 
crude  section  Benjamin  was  reared.  It  was  a  restricted  life, 
for  communication  with  distant  points  was  slow  and  awkward, 
the  nearest  railroad  stations  being  Crockett,  Texas,  fifty  miles 
away,  and  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  100  miles  away. 


293 


294  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

The  first  schooling  obtained  by  the  lad  was  at  Wallace 
Chapel,  in  the  piny  woods  country.  It  was  not  much  of  an 
education,  but  it  served  to  stimulate  his  wish  for  a  better  train- 
ing. When  he  was  ten  years  old  Frank  kept  the  ferry,  col- 
lecting toll  from  those  who  crossed  the  stream.  He  was 
eleven  years  old  before  he  saw  a  railroad  track  or  a  locomo- 
tive. His  schooling  was  extended  in  the  winter  of  1884-5  by 
a  five  months'  course  at  Homer,  Angelina  County,  after  finish- 
ing which  he  entered  the  employ  of  his  brother,  W.  H. 
Bonner,  who  had  opened  a  small  store  at  Lufkin,  which  ulti- 
mately grew  into  a  large  mercantile,  banking  and  lumber 
business  at  that  point.  The  untutored  youth  had  much  to 
learn  of  business  methods  when  he  began  his  work  in  the 
store,  but  his  inherited  intelligence  quickened  his  grasp  on 
commercial  affairs,  and  from  a  humble  clerk  he  developed 
into  a  broadminded,  serious  and  capable  young  business  man 
in  the  eight  years  he  remained  at  Lufkin. 

Going  to  Houston,  Mr.  Bonner  joined  the  force  of  the 
Joe  W.  Davis  Oil  Company,  working  in  the  various  depart- 
ments and  exerting  his  knowledge  and  control  of  men.  He 
took  up  the  distribution  of  oil  to  the  manufacturers  of  all  Hnes 
in  Texas  territory  and  demonstrated  his  commercial  fitness  to 
handle  large  affairs.  The  Davis  concern  was  not  incorporated, 
and  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Davis,  in  October,  1896,  Mr. 
Bonner  conducted  the  business  for  a  year  for  the  widow  of 
Mr.  Davis.  Subsequently,  he  bought  the  business  and  con- 
ducted it  as  the  Southwestern  Oil  Company.  Mr.  Bonner 
built  the  first  oil  refinery  in  Houston  and,  at  that  time,  the 
only  lubricating  oil  plant  in  the  South.  Since  that  time  the 
oil  business  established  by  Mr.  Bonner  has  grown  and  pros- 
pered beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations,  under  the 
management  of  his  brother,  John  S.  Bonner,  until  today  the 
operations  of  the  Bonner  Oil  Company,  of  Houston,  are  ex- 
tensive within  the  limits  of  the  State  and  extend  into  adjacent 
states. 

Mr.  Bonner  soon  became  identified  with  other  enterprises, 


BENJAMIN  F.  BONNER  295 

becoming  a  member  of  the  Cotton  Exchange,  president  of  the 
Houston  Business  League,  a  member  of  the  Houston  Manu- 
facturing Association  and  of  the  Houston  Lumber  Exchange. 
Subsequently,  he  was  elected  second  vice  president  of  the 
Planters'  &  Mechanics'  National  Bank,  of  Houston;  first  vice 
president  of  the  Houston  Freight  Bureau,  and  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Ed  H.  Harrell  Lumber  Company.  He  is 
largely  interested  financially  in  the  Texas  &  Louisiana  Lumber 
Company  and  the  Central  Lumber  Company,  which  do  an 
immense  business. 

In  1901  Mr.  Bonner  became  more  closely  identified  with 
the  lumber  industry.  At  that  time  he  was  chosen  the  active 
assistant  of  John  H.  Kirby  in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Kirby  Lumber  Company.  In  this  position  Mr.  Bonner  was 
given  the  opportunity  of  demonstrating  his  unusual  executive 
ability.  The  interests  of  the  big  corporation,  extending  over 
a  large  section  of  Texas,  required  a  man  of  force  and  broad 
ability  for  their  successful  management.  Mr.  Bonner  proved 
to  be  the  man  for  the  situation,  and  he  has  been  Mr.  Kirby's 
chief  lieutenant  through  the  succeeding  years.  The  Kirby 
Lumber  Company  is,  all  things  considered,  the  largest  lumber 
organization  in  the  United  States.  It  controls  much  more 
than  a  million  acres  of  stumpage,  principally  yellow  pine; 
dozens  of  sawmills  and  planing  mills ;  hundreds  of  miles  of 
railroads  and  tramroads;  gives  employment  to  thousands  of 
men,  and  in  it  are  invested  millions  of  dollars. 

The  confidence  imposed  in  Mr.  Bonner  by  his  business 
associates,  and  by  capitalists  and  large  corporations  with  whom 
he  had  business  dealings,  was  exemplified  when  he  was  selected 
as  general  manager  of  the  Kirby  Lumber  Company  upon  the 
concern  passing  into  the  hands  of  receivers.  This  turn  in  the 
history  of  the  company  was  brought  about  during  a  period  of 
internal  financial  disturbance,  when  the  company,  by  reason 
of  an  unusual  situation  thereby  created,  was  unable  to  meet 
certain  obligations  in  the  cutting  and  marketing  of  timber  it 
controlled.    The  large  interests  involved  were  unanimously  in 


296  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

favor  of  Mr.  Bonner's  choice  as  general  manager  of  the  com- 
pany under  the  receivership,  a  position  giving  him  wider  scope 
than  before  and  in  which  he  has  acquitted  himself  with  re- 
markable ability,  as  shown  by  the  marked  success  attending 
the  work  of  the  receivership. 

Mr.  Bonner  has  a  delightful  home  in  Houston,  where  he 
resides  with  his  wife  and  two  daughters.  Mrs.  Bonner  was 
Miss  Annie  E.  Wier,  of  Bunkie,  Louisiana,  their  wedding 
having  been  celebrated  April  21,  1891.  The  children  are 
Garland,  aged  twelve  years,  and  Annie  Wier  Bonner,  aged 
seven  years. 

M .  Bonner  has  always  taken  a  decided  interest  in  the  poli- 
tics of  Texas,  particularly  in  local  affairs.  In  1902  he  managed 
the  mayoralty  campaign  of  O.  T.  Holt,  of  Houston,  and,  by 
the  successful  conclusion  of  the  campaign,  overthrew  a  polit- 
ical ring  that  had  held  the  municipal  offices  of  Houston  for 
more  than  ten  years.  Since  then  he  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  all  municipal  elections,  having  successfully  managed  the 
last  campaign,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  Hon.  H.  B. 
Rice  as  mayor. 

Mr.  Bonner  is  a  quick  thinker,  with  sound  judgment  and 
a  faculty  of  reasoning  to  a  thorough  and  safe  conclusion.  His 
many  good  qualities  are  known  to  hundreds  who  are  proud  to 
claim  his  friendship  and  who  recognize  in  him  every  quality  of 
a  man.  Perhaps  the  highest  tribute  which  can  be  paid  to  him  is 
the  manner  in  which  he  abandoned  his  private  interests  in  the 
oil  business  to  devote  his  time  to  the  rehabilitation  of  the  busi- 
ness affairs  of  the  Kirby  Lumber  Company.  He  brought  his 
talents  to  bear  in  the  colossal  undertaking,  and  has  accom- 
plished great  results  where  but  little  was  expected.  He  com- 
pleted a  working  organization  sufficient  to  justify  the  founder's 
expectations  of  what  could  be  done  in  the  handling  of  a  dozen 
large  mills  under  one  management.  The  severe  work  has 
told  upon  the  robust  constitution  of  the  man  and  the  silver 
streaks  in  his  hair  tell  of  the  strain  of  his  stewardship. 


Edward   H.  HarrcU 


The  V  y  hairs, 

ar  and 

in 


ty  in  every  phase  of   life, 
imerc  The  lumber  industry,  especially, 

has  been  productive  of  a  notable  percentage  of  bright  young 
men  who  have  added  sound  judgment  to  enterprise.  Of  this 
type  may  be  mentioned  Edward  H.  Harrell,  of  Houston, 
Texas,  who,  by  dint  of  energy  and  determination,  coupled 
with  conservative  common  sense,  has  worked  his  way  up  from 
the  bottom  until,  while  only  well  into  the  thirties,  he  is  one  of 
the  leading  business  men  of  the  Lone  Star  State. 

"^  ^         J  TT        .  "-rrell  is  a  son  of  the  South,  having  been 

^' -      His  father,  Oscar 
1  jirth,  a  grocery  mer- 

tne  little  city  of   Sclma,  besides 
o  '  inity.    His  mother,  Marie 

A  ^anta- 

t^ 

1,  where  the  father  engaged  very  i.  m 

1  grain  business.     In  i88i  yellow  fever  became 

I   and,  as  the  elder  Harrell's  1  was 

fa  moved  to  Bladen  Springs,  Alabama,  ig 

hat  placfc  would  prove  beneficial.     Later, 
bile,  in  turn,  became  the  family  resi- 
dent ler  occurring  in  the  latter  place  in 

1884. 

997 

_J_l3VfRAH     HAOOH     aFIA\A/a3 


EDWARD     HOGAN     HARREZL-L- 


Edward  H.  Harrell 


The  world  has  assumed  that  wisdom  comes  with  gray  hairs, 
and  that  while  the  young  may  be  ambitious,  progressive  and 
forceful,  the  old  are  to  be  looked  to  for  counsel.  While  in 
the  main  this  has  been  true,  In  all  ages  there  have  been  young 
men  who  have  added  to  the  attributes  of  youth  the  wisdom 
of  old  age.  But  this  early  morning  of  the  Twentieth  Century 
Is  preeminently  the  young  men's  era.  Today  they  occupy 
positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  every  phase  of  life, 
political  and  commercial.  The  lumber  industry,  especially, 
has  been  productive  of  a  notable  percentage  of  bright  young 
men  who  have  added  sound  judgment  to  enterprise.  Of  this 
type  may  be  mentioned  Edward  H.  Harrell,  of  Houston, 
Texas,  who,  by  dint  of  energy  and  determination,  coupled 
with  conservative  common  sense,  has  worked  his  way  up  from 
the  bottom  until,  while  only  well  into  the  thirties,  he  is  one  of 
the  leading  business  men  of  the  Lone  Star  State. 

Edward  Hogan  Harrell  Is  a  son  of  the  South,  having  been 
born  in  Selma,  Alabama,  January  3,  1868.  His  father,  Oscar 
F.  Harrell,  was,  at  the  time  of  the  boy's  birth,  a  grocery  mer- 
chant and  cotton  factor  of  the  little  city  of  Selma,  besides 
owning  several  plantations  In  that  vicinity.  His  mother,  Marie 
Antionette  Mobley,  was  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  planta- 
tion owner  In  Alabama.  In  1879  the  family  moved  to  Pensa- 
cola,  Florida,  where  the  father  engaged  very  successfully  in 
the  grocery  and  grain  business.  In  1881  yellow  fever  became 
prevalent  In  Florida  and,  as  the  elder  Harrell's  health  was 
failing,  the  family  moved  to  Bladen  Springs,  Alabama,  hoping 
that  the  waters  of  that  place  would  prove  beneficial.  Later, 
Healing  Springs  and  Mobile,  In  turn,  became  the  family  resi- 
dence, the  death  of  the  father  occurring  in  the  latter  place  In 
1884. 


897 


298  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

The  elder  Mr.  Harrell  left  very  little  of  this  world's  goods, 
his  fortune  having  been  expended  in  the  fruitless  search  for 
health.  So  Edward  found  himself,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years, 
facing  the  world  without  money  and  with  a  mother  and  four 
sisters  more  or  less  dependent  upon  him.  But  he  was  equal 
to  the  emergency;  he  went  to  Birmingham,  Alabama,  remain- 
ing in  that  place  until  the  latter  part  of  1886,  or  early  in  1887, 
occupying  several  subordinate  positions.  Not  being  satisfied 
with  the  outlook  there  and  believing  that  with  an  opportunity 
he  could  make  something  of  himself,  he  began  to  cast  about 
for  a  better  location. 

More  than  one  boy  has  been  fired  by  the  advice  of  Horace 
Greeley:  "Go  West,  young  man,  and  grow  up  with  the  coun- 
try." It  was  this  admonition  which  was  the  immediate  cause 
of  young  Harrell's  leaving  Birmingham.  He  had  heard  and 
read  much  of  Texas  and  had  become  convinced  that  in  the 
Lone  Star  State  a  fortune  was  awaiting  him  if  he  had  the  nerve 
to  go  out  and  seek  it.  So,  in  the  early  part  of  1887,  he  set  his 
face  toward  the  West,  with  Texas  as  his  objective  point. 
When  he  undertook  the  journey  his  funds  were  small  and  as 
he  proceeded  they  shrank  rapidly.  The  result  was  that  when 
he  reached  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  he  had  fifty  cents  in  his 
pocket,  and  he  knew  not  a  soul  in  the  town.  He  still  held 
firmly  to  his  creed  that  determination  and  energy  would  win 
in  the  end  and  decided  that,  while  he  would  yet  go  to  Texas, 
he  must  have  work  in  Shreveport  for  a  time.  Accordingly, 
he  secured  a  position  with  the  Vicksburg,  Shreveport  &  Pacif- 
ic Railway,  checking  baggage.  Never  having  had  any  ex- 
perience in  railroad  work,  but  believing  that  he  could  do  any- 
thing that  anybody  else  could,  he  set  about  his  task  with 
energy. 

Young  Harrell's  vim  evidently  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  business  men  who  chanced  to  observe  him  about  his  daily 
duties,  for  after  sixty  days  he  was  offered  a  position  by  John 
R.  Jones,  a  large  mill  owner  and  lumber  dealer  of  that  time. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  other  positions  had  required 


EDWARD  H.  HARRELL  299 

all  his  time  during  the  hours  of  day,  Mr.  Harrell  had  learned 
shorthand  and  typewriting  at  night  without  the  aid  of  an  in- 
structor, his  sole  guide  being  a  textbook  on  shorthand. 
His  duties  with  Mr.  Jones  were  those  of  stenographer  and  in- 
voice clerk.  With  the  lumberman  he  did  well  and  was  able  to 
hold  the  position  without  difficulty,  despite  the  fact  that  it  was 
his  first  attempt  at  shorthand  work. 

After  about  a  year,  however,  the  old  desire  to  go  to  Texas 
began  to  assert  itself  once  more,  and  he  left  Mr.  Jones  and 
started  for  the  great  State  of  the  Southwest,  believing  that  by 
putting  forth  the  proper  effort  a  young  man  could  succeed  in 
so  great  a  commonwealth.  San  Antonio  was  his  first  stop, 
but  the  search  for  a  position  there  proved  fruitless  and  after  a 
few  days  he  decided  to  try  elsewhere.  Fort  Worth  was  then 
visited  and  on  the  day  after  reaching  that  city  a  position  as  ste- 
nographer and  court  reporter  was  secured  with  Meade  & 
Bomar,  attorneys  at  law.  In  this  work  Mr.  Harrell  succeeded, 
as  he  did  in  everything  he  attempted,  but  he  had  already  be- 
come fascinated  with  the  lumber  business  and  decided  to  get 
back  into  it. 

One  day,  while  reading  the  daily  paper,  an  advertisement 
of  the  Texas  Tram  &  Lumber  Company,  of  Beaumont,  Texas, 
caught  his  eye.  A  good  stenographer  was  wanted,  and  he 
put  in  his  application.  In  a  few  days  a  letter  came  advising 
that  the  position  had  been  awarded  to  him  and  he  immediately 
went  to  Beaumont.  For  six  months — from  January  to  June, 
1889 — Mr.  Harrell  remained  with  the  company,  but  the  loca- 
tion being  unfavorable  to  his  health,  he  resigned  at  the  end  of 
that  time  to  fill  a  similar  position  with  the  M.  T.  Jones  Lum- 
ber Company,  of  Houston. 

After  serving  the  M.  T.  Jones  company  one  year  as  ste- 
nographer and  general  office  man  Mr.  Harrell  was  given  the 
position  of  traveling  salesman,  his  territory  being  Texas,  In- 
dian Territory,  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  He  proved  efficient  in 
the  new  capacity  and  rose  rapidly  in  the  estimation  of  his  em- 
ployers.    He  remained  with  the  company  until  the  latter  part 


300  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

of  1896,  or  nearly  seven  years.  At  that  time  he  resigned  to 
embark  in  the  lumber  commission  business  with  L.  B.  Mene- 
fee,  of  Fort  Worth.  In  January,  1897,  the  Houston  office  and 
yard  were  opened  under  the  firm  name  of  L.  B.  Menefee  & 
Co.  This  partnership  continued  until  April,  1902,  when  Mr. 
Harrell  withdrew  and  established  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Ed  H.  Harrell  Company. 

The  company  of  which  Mr.  Harrell  is  president  is  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  of  $200,000  and  operates  one  of  the 
largest  sash,  blind  and  door  factories  in  the  Southwest,  built 
in  1902,  and  a  large  box  factory,  built  in  1904.  Mr.  Harrell, 
as  president  of  the  concern,  devotes  his  personal  attention  to 
the  management  of  all  of  its  affairs.  The  company  operates  ex- 
tensively and  the  output  of  both  plants  finds  great  demand. 
The  amount  of  money  constantly  involved  is  more  than  $250,- 
000.  To  keep  everything  intact  and  running  smoothly  requires 
much  executive  ability.  When  the  Ed  H.  Harrell  Company 
was  launched  a  large  retail  lumber  yard  was  run  in  connection 
with  the  sash  and  door  business,  but  as  the  latter  grew,  even 
beyond  the  fondest  hopes  of  its  promoters,  it  was  found  ex- 
pedient to  dispose  of  the  lumber  yard  and  devote  all  energies 
to  manufacturing.  The  output  of  the  plant  consists  of  doors, 
blinds,  sash  and  mouldings,  of  cypress  and  pine,  the  native 
woods  of  Texas. 

Mr.  Harrell  is  president  of  the  Harrell- Votaw  Lumber 
Company,  which  was  organized  in  1905  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000.  The  company  built  a  band  sawmill  at  Bruce,  Or- 
ange County,  Texas,  and  began  operations  January  i,  1906. 

Mr.  Harrell  stands  high  in  business  and  financial  circles 
and  enjoys  the  esteem  of  all  who  are  acquainted  with  him. 
He  is  a  director  in  several  institutions  of  Houston,  among 
others  the  Planters  &  Mechanics'  National  Bank.  He  takes 
an  interest  in  all  enterprises  looking  to  the  betterment  of  the 
business  conditions  and  the  welfare  of  Houston  and  Texas, 
and  is  president  of  the  Manufacturers' Association  of  Houston. 


Rufu*^  *      '     ■   '^^t 


Talent  for 
commercial  r- 

to  V 


-«c    3nrl   v/-t,  when   i.  .  ,...w, 

f  fV^A  country's 


^ect 

4 


-  ^iiu  a  lumberman  >viiu  utts  utniuiitLiaicu  i»j  a  ».- 

abic  manner  the  possession  of  this  talent  is  Rufus  H.  Vaiii>unt, 
of  Ashland,  Kentucky. 

Rufus  Humphrey  Vansant  was  born  in  Martinsburg,  north- 
eastern Kentucky,  September  8,  1852.  His  ancestry  upon  the 
paternal  side  is  traced  back  to  Holland,  while  his  mother  be- 
longed to  a  well  known  Scotch-Irish  family  of  the  name  of 
Hunter.     When  but  a  more  than  seventeen  years  of  age, 

P  of  his  parents,  became  the 

and  a  girl.     He 


mg 

d 
t' 

ri- 
ence  it 

Duririj,  — :it  was  also 

engaged  in    ...  «  on  the  Little 

Sandy  River  in  k......  -...^h  began  in  a 

TMA3I/1AV     Y3FIHCIMUH     eU^UR 


RUFUS     HUMPHREY    VANSANX 


Rufus  H.  Vansant 


Talent  for  organization,  whether  it  be  along  the  lines  of 
commercial  enterprise  orinthecombinationof  various  interests 
to  work  together  toward  a  common  goal,  is  a  faculty  possessed 
by  but  few  men.  A  man  may  have  the  ability  successfully  to 
organize  and  carry  on  his  own  business  and  yet,  when  it  comes 
to  the  harmonizing  of  an  entire  branch  of  one  of  the  country's 
great  industries,  he  may  entirely  fail.  The  power  to  effect 
successful  organization  is  a  natural  gift  rather  than  an  acquired 
ability,  and  a  lumberman  who  has  demonstrated  in  a  remark- 
able manner  the  possession  of  this  talent  is  Rufus  H.  Vansant, 
of  Ashland,  Kentucky. 

Rufus  Humphrey  Vansant  was  born  in  Martinsburg,  north- 
eastern Kentucky,  September  8,  1852.  His  ancestry  upon  the 
paternal  side  is  traced  back  to  Holland,  while  his  mother  be- 
longed to  a  well  known  Scotch-Irish  family  of  the  name  of 
Hunter.  When  but  a  little  more  than  seventeen  years  of  age, 
Rufus  H.  Vansant,  by  the  death  of  his  parents,  became  the 
head  of  the  family,  consisting  of  younger  boys  and  a  girl.  He 
rose  to  the  emergency  and  supported  not  only  himself  but  his 
brothers  and  sister,  completing  his  own  education  and  teach- 
ing school  until  1879.  In  the  following  year  he  was  appointed 
deputy  clerk  of  the  circuit  court  of  Elliott  County,  at  Mar- 
tinsburg, acting  in  this  capacity  for  six  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time,  in  1886,  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  court.  These 
positions  brought  him  into  touch  with  public  affairs,  and  also 
gave  him  opportunity  for  a  very  good  insight  into  human 
nature,  for  which  reason  he  now  looks  back  upon  this  experi- 
ence as  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  his  whole  career. 

During  the  period  from  1880  to  1886  Mr.  Vansant  was  also 
engaged  in  the  timber  and  lumber  business  on  the  Little 
Sandy  River  in  Kentucky.     This  business,  which  began  in  a 

301 


302  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

small  way  but  which  was  enlarged  from  year  to  year,  included 
buying  standing  timber,  putting  it  in  the  river  and  floating  it  to 
Leon,  Carter  County,  Kentucky.  In  1881  Mr.  Vansant  began 
business  as  a  lumber  manufacturer  and  wholesaler,  serving 
also  in  the  capacity  of  his  own  traveling  representative  to  sell 
the  lumber  which  he  produced. 

In  1894  Mr.  Vansant  moved  to  Ashland,  Boyd  County, 
Kentucky,  and  formed  the  firm  of  R.  H.  Vansant  &  Co. 
Ashland  is  admirably  located  with  relation  to  the  hardwood 
and  poplar  timber  of  eastern  Kentucky  and  of  West  Virginia, 
as  it  is  on  the  Ohio  River  not  far  below  the  mouths  of  the  Big 
Sandy  and  the  Guyandotte.  At  this  point  R.  H.  Vansant  & 
Co.  did  business  and  had  their  logs  sawed  by  contract  at  local 
mills,  Mr.  Vansant  still  continuing  to  pay  much  of  his  atten- 
tion to  the  sales  department,  and,  in  fact,  practically  embody- 
ing that  department  in  his  own  person.  Still  the  business 
grew,  and  in  January,  1899,  ^^^  corporation  of  Vansant, 
Kitchen  &  Co.  was  organized,  with  R.  H.  Vansant,  president; 
D.  J.  Taft,  vice  president;  Charles  Kitchen,  secretary,  and 
John  W.  Kitchen,  treasurer.  J.  B.  Hannah,  a  brother-in-law 
of  Mr.  Vansant,  was  a  stockholder  and  director  in  the  com- 
pany, which  still  continues  in  its  original  form. 

During  the  year  preceding  the  organization  of  Vansant, 
Kitchen  &  Co.,  the  gentlemen  contemplating  incorporating  in 
that  form  took  a  very  important  step  by  becoming  holders  of 
standing  timber,  as  well  as  buyers  of  logs  and  manufacturers 
and  wholesalers  of  lumber.  In  that  year,  1898,  they  bought 
of  George  &  Albert  Pack  &  Co.  timber  holdings  which  that 
concern  had  owned  at  the  head  of  the  Big  Sandy  River,  the 
stream  which  forms  the  boundary  line  between  Kentucky  and 
West  Virginia.  This  original  purchase  has  since  been  con- 
siderably increased  by  local  purchases  of  smaller  or  larger 
tracts,  so  that,  while  manufacturing  continually  from  its  own 
timber,  the  company  has  either  annually  increased  its  holdings 
or  held  them  at  a  level,  notwithstanding  the  amount  it  has 
logged.     This  was  true  up  to  the  year  1905  when  the  stump- 


RUFUS  H.  VANSANT  303 

age  holdings  were  cut  into  slightly  in  order  to  produce  a 
log  crop  for  1905,  which  was  said  to  have  been  larger  in  that 
year  than  that  of  any  other  concern  operating  upon  the  Ohio 
River  or  any  of  its  tributaries. 

At  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  Vansant,  Kitchen  & 
Co.  it  acquired  its  present  sawmill,  advantageously  located 
upon  the  Ohio  River  about  two  miles  above  Ashland  and  hav- 
ing ample  yard  space  and  excellent  shipping  facilities.  The 
concern  has  come  into  considerable  prominence  in  the  lum- 
ber world  by  the  manufacture,  in  the  most  modern  way  from 
a  high  grade  of  logs,  of  specially  high  grade  lines  of  poplar 
lumber. 

Mr.  Vansant  is  no  longer,  as  he  once  was,  the  entire  sales 
department  of  the  institution,  although  he  still  visits  important 
buyers  and  maintains  his  acquaintance  with  the  old  friends 
that  he  made  when  upon  the  road,  and  probably  he  has  today 
a  wider  personal  acquaintance  among  the  heavy  yellow  poplar 
consumers  of  the  entire  country,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  those  of  New  England,  than  any  other  man  engaged  in  the 
business. 

In  the  Hardwood  Manufacturers'  Association  of  the  United 
States  Mr.  Vansant  has  taken  a  very  active  interest.  During 
the  early  portion  of  its  existence  he  was  a  member  of  its 
board  of  directors  and  also  of  its  executive  board.  In  all  this 
work  he  took  a  leading  part,  and  the  value  of  his  services  was 
fittingly  recognized  when,  at  the  meeting  of  January,  1904,  he 
was  elected  president  of  the  association,  a  position  which  he 
filled  with  distinguished  credit.  In  1905  he  was  unanimously 
reelected,  but  in  1906  he  declined  the  honor  that  was  prof- 
fered, and  even  urged  upon  him,  of  a  continuance  in  that  office. 

Although  his  company  is  one  of  the  largest  holders  of 
poplar  stumpage  and  is  a  conspicuous  factor  in  supplying  the 
demand  for  poplar  lumber,  Mr.  Vansant  has  not  forgotten 
the  time  when  he  himself  was  a  small  manufacturer  and, 
therefore,  early  in  his  association  work,  he  became  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  one  of  its  chief  objects  must  be  to  assist  the 


304  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

smaller  manufacturers  to  grade  their  lumber  so  as  to  secure 
the  full  value  of  the  stock,  which  they  have  for  sale,  and  to 
educate  them  to  the  point  where  they  will  ask  such  values  and 
be  able  to  secure  them.  He  is  recognized  as  an  authority 
upon  these  points,  and  has  been  the  chairman  both  of  the  com- 
mittee on  inspection  and  on  values. 

Mr.  Vansant  is  an  eminently  practical  lumberman,  who 
learned  his  business  in  the  hard  school  of  experience  in  which 
he  was  an  apt  scholar.  As  a  self-made  man  he  need  not 
be  ashamed  of  his  work.  Since  engaging  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness he  has  devoted  his  entire  time  to  it,  having  no  other  com- 
mercial interests  except  some  real  estate  investments.  As  a 
good,  loyal  citizen  he  is  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  city, 
State  and  country,  but  has  not  played  the  game  of  politics 
since  the  years  of  his  younger  manhood. 

He  married  Miss  Anna  V.  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  James 
W.  Hannah,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Martinsburg,  Elliott 
County,  Kentucky,  December  3,  1879.  Their  family  com- 
prises two  girls  and  two  boys.  Mr.  Vansant  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  belongs  to  the 
Ashland  Commandery  Knights  Templar,  and  is  also  a  Shriner. 


John  L. 


.as  chose 
iber  frop^ 
.3  ui  ujc  con*"" 
grades  and  qualitit5, 
competitive  wn      " 
knowledge     ^ 
F       ' 

b  >,  i>c  an  approacnaDie,  iiiweaDie 

n  d  talker.     i\  man  so  equipped  should  achieve 

s.  it  he  undertake  a  lumber  business  on  his  own  account, 

and  he  usually  does.  Prominent  among  successful  salesmen 
who  have  built  up  successful  businesses  for  themselves  is  John 
I  ago. 

in  Dayton,  Ohio,  November  27,  1859,  the 
,  an  Englishman,  and  Mary  Anne  Lane, 

irnev  and  also  a 


'Z 


■%9 


sional  ^^     ^  .  i  a 

position  with  liic  a- 

tion   owned    by   kjul  «.    wv.    j^juu                whe 

3MA_J     ei\A/3_J  MHOt 


\ 


JOHN     LEWIS     L_AN 


John  L.  Lane 


The  traveling  lumber  salesman,  if  he  would  become 
successful  in  his  chosen  line,  must  possess  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  lumber  from  the  stump  to  its  final  disposition  in  the 
hands  of  the  consumer.  He  must  be  well  acquainted  with 
grades  and  qualities,  not  only  of  his  own  wood,  but  also  of 
competitive  woods.  In  fact,  he  must  have  a  good,  working 
knowledge  of  every  commercial  wood  of  the  United  States. 
Besides,  he  must  understand  lumber  transportation  problems, 
be  conversant  with  freight  rates,  be  an  approachable,  likeable 
man  and  a  good  talker.  A  man  so  equipped  should  achieve 
success  if  he  undertake  a  lumber  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  he  usually  does.  Prominent  among  successful  salesmen 
who  have  built  up  successful  businesses  for  themselves  is  John 
Lewis  Lane,  of  Chicago. 

He  was  born  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  November  27,  1859,  the 
son  of  George  H.  Lane,  an  Englishman,  and  Mary  Anne  Lane, 
a  native  of  Ireland.  The  elder  Lane  was  an  attorney  and  also  a 
politician  of  local  and  State  fame.  He  moved  his  family  to 
Burlington,  Iowa,  later  famous  as  a  lumber  center,  when  his 
son  John  was  still  a  child. 

In  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  his  father,  John  took  up 
the  study  of  law  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  having 
attended  the  public  schools  prior  to  that  time.  For  two  years 
he  remained  in  his  father's  ofBce,  absorbing  knowledge  of  the 
law.  Although  he  has  never  been  accused  of  being  a  lawless 
man,  Mr.  Lane  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  assimilation  of  the 
precepts  laid  down  by  Blackstone  and  other  legal  luminaries, 
and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  he  decided  to  forsake  his  profes- 
sional career  and  enter  the  lumber  business.  He  secured  a 
position  with  the  Cascade  Lumber  Company,  a  sawmill  opera- 
tion   owned    by   Gilbert   Hedge    &    Co.     John    Berry,    the 

305 


3o6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

superintendent  of  the  company's  mill,  was  known  as  one  of 
the  most  thoroughgoing  river  lumbermen  on  the  Mississippi, 
and,  under  his  tutorage,  Mr.  Lane  made  rapid  advancement 
in  gaining  a  knowledge  of  lumber  manufacturing  during  the 
year  he  was  employed  by  that  company. 

During  his  stay  with  the  Cascade  concern,  Mr.  Lane  was 
nursing  an  ambition  to  become  a  lumber  salesman,  and  in 
1880  he  went  to  Chicago  and  secured  such  a  position  with  the 
Soper  Lumber  Company,  remaining  with  that  company  for 
seven  years.  In  those  days  Mr.  Lane's  range  was  from 
Philadelphia  to  Denver,  his  best  territory  being  Kansas, 
Nebraska  and  Colorado.  Chicago  at  that  time  was  just 
beginning  to  take  its  now  acknowledged  place  at  the  head  of 
lumber  distributing  points,  and  Mr.  Lane  often  found  himself 
at  a  hotel  dining  table  surrounded  by  a  score  of  lumber  sales- 
men, two-thirds  of  whom  represented  houses  of  that  city. 
Those  were  boom  days  for  Kansas,  and  that  State  had 
facilities  grossly  inadequate  for  handling  the  great  amount  of 
business.  Only  two  railroads  crossed  that  territory,  smaller 
cities  having  to  be  reached  by  horse  and  buggy.  Hotels  were 
over-crowded,  and  travehng  in  that  section  was  a  hardship. 
Mr.  Lane  once  paid  $2  an  hour  for  the  privilege  of  sleeping 
on  a  billiard  table.  Frequently,  on  account  of  the  high 
expenses,  traveling  men  would  work  in  the  interests  of  all  and 
divide  an  order  among  those  who  found  themselves  together 

in  one  town. 

In  1887  Mr.  Lane  became  general  salesman  for  the 
Western  Sash  &  Door  Company,  at  Kansas  City,  Missouri, 
but  later  in  the  same  year  met  with  a  serious  accident,  dis- 
locating his  knee  and  being  obliged  to  remain  in  bed  for  four 
months.  During  this  time  he  decided  to  forsake  the  selling 
end  of  the  business,  and,  after  his  recovery,  he  joined  with 
J.  H.  Tschudy,  March  17,  1888,  in  establishing  the  Lane  & 
Tschudy  Hardwood  Lumber  Company,  of  Kansas  City.  The 
business  prospered  to  such  an  extent  that  independent  mill 
connections  had  to  be  secured,  and,  consequently,  Mr.  Lane 


JOHN  L.  LANE  307 

organized  the  Greenway  Company,  in  1890,  for  manufac- 
turing purposes,  at  Hammett,  Clay  County,  Arkansas.  The 
following  year  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  Lane  & 
Tschudy  Hardwood  Lumber  Company  and  secured  entire 
control  of  the  Greenway  Company,  established  headquarters 
at  Kansas  City  and  began  the  wholesaling  of  hardwoods. 

After  the  financial  panic  of  1893  the  demand  for  hard- 
woods decreased,  and  the  product  of  the  two  circular  mills 
and  the  stock  on  hand  could  not  be  disposed  of  to  advantage 
at  wholesale,  so  a  retail  yard  was  opened  in  Kansas  City. 
A.  H.  Connelly  became  associated  with  Mr.  Lane  in  1895  and 
the  business  was  known  as  the  Lane  &  Connelly  Hardwood 
Lumber  Company,  afterward  succeeded  by  the  present  A.  H. 
Connelly  Hardwood  Lumber  Company. 

On  account  of  ill  health,  in  1899  Mr.  Lane  disposed  of  his 
interest  in  the  Lane  &  Connelly  Hardwood  Lumber  Company 
and  traveled  abroad  and  in  this  country  for  two  years,  then 
taking  up  his  residence  in  Chicago.  He  associated  himself 
with  the  Penrod,  Prouty  &  Abbott  concerns,  manufacturers  of 
black  walnut,  forming  an  affiliation  through  which  he  built  and 
put  into  operation  the  plant  of  the  East  St.  Louis  Walnut  Com- 
pany, at  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois,  of  which  enterprise  he  became 
resident  manager.  This  business  was  inaugurated  in  1902. 
Three  years  later  Mr.  Lane  sold  his  interest  and  returned  to 
Chicago,  establishing  the  commission  brokerage  firm  of  J.  L. 
Lane  &  Co.  This  business  still  continues  successfully  under 
the  management  of  his  partner.  Forming  an  alliance,  in 
1905,  at  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas,  under  the  name  of  the  Lane- 
White  Lumber  Company,  he  engaged  for  a  time  in  the 
manufacture  of  hardwoods.  Mr.  Lane  was  vice  president  and 
manager  of  this  company  which  took  over,  under  bankruptcy 
proceedings,  a  large  plant,  including  a  sawmill  and  handle  fac- 
tory. He  retired  from  this  concern  late  in  September,  1906, 
to  give  his  entire  time  to  his  other  interests. 

Mr.  Lane  is  a  pioneer  in  association  work,  and  was  one  of 
the  organizers  and  for  years  the  secretary  of  the  Southwestern 


3o8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Lumber  Dealers'  Association,  one  of  the  oldest  and  the  second 
largest  retail  association  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Lane  is 
now  honorary  secretary  of  that  association,  and  was  also  secre- 
tary of  the  national  association  for  several  years.  In  June, 
1896,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Hardwood  Manufac- 
turers' Association  of  Arkansas,  and  is  a  member  of  several  of 
the  grading  rule  committees  of  the  Hardwood  Manufacturers' 
Association  of  the  United  States,  in  connection  with  which 
work  he  was  instrumental  in  formulating  the  grading  rules  on 
logs,  which  were  adopted  by  the  national  association. 

Mr.  Lane  was  one  of  the  early  members  of  Hoo-Hoo.  He 
was  first  vicegerent  snark  of  Missouri,  and,  later,  vicegerent 
snark  of  northern  Illinois.  In  1895,  in  Minneapolis,  he 
originated  an  offshoot  of  Hoo-Hoo,  later  known  as  the 
Osirian  Cloister.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  a 
Knight  Templar  and  a  Shriner,  and  takes  great  interest  in  all 
Masonic  work.  When  a  salesman  he  was  an  Elk,  a  Knight 
of  Pythias  and  a  member  of  other  orders,  but  has  since 
dropped  out  of  most  of  them.  His  favorite  recreation  is 
golf  and  he  belongs  to  several  golf  clubs.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Lane  is  a  Republican,  but  he  stands  more  firmly  for  the  man 
than  for  his  party. 

On  December  18,  1888,  Mr.  Lane  married  Miss  Myrtie 
M.  Ruggles,  of  Chicago.  Their  children  are  Louise,  aged 
sixteen;  Marjorie,  aged  fourteen,  and  Constant,  aged  twelve. 

Mr.  Lane  is  now  permanently  located  in  Chicago.  He 
had  intended  to  direct  his  various  interests  from  Fort  Smith, 
Arkansas,  but  as  the  climate  there  did  not  agree  with  him,  he 
returned  to  Chicago,  which,  he  declares,  shall  be  his  home. 

Although  John  is  the  name  given  Mr.  Lane  in  baptism, 
he  is  better  known  as  "Ji"^"  *o  his  numerous  friends,  and  as 
"Jim"  he  is  welcomed  wherever  he  goes. 


William 


1  in  an  injudicious  manner, 
golden  harvest  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
Jer.     Especially  in  this  day  gcr  things,  capital 

and  cof  s  than   ever  to  secure  the 

_         i  of  a  When  expenses  arc  cut  to  the  mini- 

mum and  business  operations  are  put  on  a  close  margin,  it  is 
a  necessity  that  men  of  judgment  shall  be  in  control.  The 
country  surrounding  the  places  where  big  enterprises  are 
conducted  is  eap^erlv  scanned  for  bright  young  men;  men 
not  nnlv  of  ir  c.  but  of  regular  habits,  men  who  can 

hp  V  an  aptitude  and  a  liking  for  their 

h-  vr.nnr>^r  f^^neration  in  the  lumber 

.   ^•-•— n  Smith,  of 

u  i;tneral  man- 

'  '  holding  the 

-i-  company,  an 


1  c  M. 

a  idhood  was  much  the 

same  as  th;:  of  a  Wisconsin  sawmill 

town  of  i  ■  c  I  "  >^  remembrances  are  of 

the  old  ^  n  that  he  and  some  of  his 


NA/II_L.IAM     EIMEIRSON     SMITH 


William  E.  Smith 


Manufacturing  interests  in  this,  as  in  all  other  countries, 
have  always  been  on  the  lookout  for  young  men  of  brains. 
Finding  them  is  one  of  the  essentials  of  their  successful  opera- 
tion. It  means  better  dividends.  Capital,  no  matter  how 
vast,  if  wrongly  invested  or  handled  in  an  injudicious  manner, 
does  not  make  the  golden  harvest  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
stockholder.  Especially  in  this  day  of  larger  things,  capital 
and  corporations  are  more  anxious  than  ever  to  secure  the 
young  man  of  ability.  When  expenses  are  cut  to  the  mini- 
mum and  business  operations  are  put  on  a  close  margin,  it  is 
a  necessity  that  men  of  judgment  shall  be  in  control.  The 
country  surrounding  the  places  where  big  enterprises  are 
conducted  is  eagerly  scanned  for  bright  young  men;  men 
not  only  of  intelligence,  but  of  regular  habits,  men  who  can 
be  trusted  and  who  show  an  aptitude  and  a  liking  for  their 
work.  Such  a  man  of  the  younger  generation  in  the  lumber 
business  of  the  United  States  is  William  Emerson  Smith,  of 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  secretary,  treasurer  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Three  States  Lumber  Company,  and  holding  the 
same  positions  with  the  W.  E.  Smith  Lumber  Company,  an 
independent  concern. 

He  was  born  in  Wisconsin,  one  of  the  principal  lumber 
producing  states  of  the  Union,  and  in  the  city  of  Eau  Claire, 
which  was,  and  is  still,  essentially  a  lumber  manufacturing 
community.  With  such  influences  surrounding  him,  it  was 
only  natural  that  William  E.  Smith  should  be  a  lumberman. 
He  is  the  son  of  William  H.  Smith  and  Kate  M.  (Fox)  Smith, 
and  was  born  October  4,  1869.  His  childhood  was  much  the 
same  as  that  of  any  other  healthy  boy  of  a  Wisconsin  sawmill 
town  of  the  period.  His  most  pleasant  remembrances  are  of 
the  old  swimming  hole  and  the  fun  that  he  and  some  of  his 

ao9 


3IO  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

companions  had  in  riding  sawlogs.  His  scholastic  training 
ended  with  his  graduation  from  the  high  school  at  Eau  Claire, 
and  in  1887  he  found  himself  in  Chicago,  where  he  entered 
the  services  of  the  Electrical  Supply  Company.  He  occupied 
himself  with  office  work  during  the  two  years  he  was  with 
this  concern,  and  so  thoroughly  did  he  pursue  this  work  that, 
when  he  returned  to  Eau  Claire,  which  he  did  after  severing 
his  connection  with  the  Electrical  Supply  Company,  he  was, 
even  at  that  early  age,  a  competent  office  man,  although  not 
yet  twenty-one  years  old. 

About  that  time  there  had  been  completed  in  the  city  of 
Eau  Claire  a  large  plant  by  the  National  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company,  and  Mr.  Smith  was  given  a  minor  position 
in  the  office  of  the  concern.  During  his  service  with  the 
company,  which  extended  over  a  period  of  three  or  four 
years,  he  was  gradually  advanced  until  he  was  given  entire 
charge  of  the  office,  together  with  the  position  of  auditor. 

While  he  was  with  the  National  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company,  Mr.  Smith  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  late 
William  A.  Rust,  who,  when  the  opportunity  came,  placed 
him  for  a  short  time  in  the  office  of  the  Rust-Owen  Lumber 
Company.  The  company  was  acquiring  immense  tracts  of 
Cottonwood  stumpage  in  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee, 
and  had  organized,  with  headquarters  at  Cairo,  Illinois,  the 
Three  States  Lumber  Company,  which  is  today  one  of  the 
largest  Cottonwood  producers  in  the  country.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  Three  States  company  had  been 
growing  unsatisfactory  to  the  northern  owners,  and,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1895,  M^-  Smith  was  sent  to  Cairo  as  accountant  and 
bookkeeper,  and,  in  July  of  the  following  year,  he  was  made 
secretary  of  the  company.  In  February,  1897,  he  was  made 
manager,  with  full  power,  although  he  was  then  but  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age.  Since  then  Mr.  Smith  has  had  unlimited 
charge  of  the  Three  States  company's  affairs,  and  that  without 
bond  of  any  kind  or  any  restraint  whatsoever  in  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  the  business.     The  head  offices  of  this  concern 


WILLIAM  E.  SMITH  311 

are  now  maintained  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  to  which  place 
they  were  removed  on  January  i,  1905,  where  the  company's 
principal  yards  are  located,  and  in  the  district  tributary  to 
which  are  extensive  mills  belonging  to  the  company. 

In  October,  1900,  Mr.  Smith  assisted  in  the  organization 
of  the  W.  E.  Smith  Lumber  Company,  being  one  of  the 
incorporators.  The  original  capitalization  of  the  company 
was  $25,000,  afterward  increased  to  $100,000.  Mr.  Smith  is 
secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the  company,  and 
F.  R.  Gilchrist  is  vice  president.  Business  was  conducted 
from  Cairo  until  January  i,  1905,  when  the  offices  were  moved 
to  Memphis,  where  Mr.  Smith  now  resides. 

The  company  operates  principally  in  hardwoods,  and 
markets  its  products  through  Memphis,  Cairo  and  other 
points  along  the  river. 

Mr.  Smith  is  an  ardent  association  man,  having  been  either 
an  officer  or  having  served  in  some  official  capacity  in  the 
National  Hardwood  Lumber  Association  since  its  inception. 

One  of  the  secrets  of  his  success  is  his  fidelity  and  deter- 
mined perseverance.  His  tenacity  of  purpose  is  shown  by  the 
manner  in  which  he  went  after  the  matter  of  cottonwood 
inspection  law,  which  is  remembered  by  the  members  of  the 
National  Hardwood  Lumber  Association.  When  the  associa- 
tion was  organized,  in  May,  1896,  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Smith  was 
on  hand  as  a  charter  member  and  was  one  of  the  incorpo- 
rators. He  introduced  a  proposition  to  make  the  first  and 
second  grade  of  cottonwood  six  inches  and  up  in  width.  It 
was  taken,  at  the  time,  to  have  all  the  earmarks  of  a  joke,  but 
it  was  a  serious  matter  with  Mr.  Smith.  He  accepted  defeat 
gracefully,  but  came  forward  at  the  next  meeting  with  the 
same  request,  only  to  meet  defeat  again.  At  the  Cincinnati 
meeting,  in  1900,  he  rallied  his  forces  and  succeeded  for  a 
time  in  drawing  the  battle,  it  being  a  tie  vote,  but  again  was 
forced  to  succumb.  But  he  was  not  disheartened,  and  in  the 
year  following  appeared  at  the  Chicago  meeting  full  of  fight 
and  proxies,  and,  in  spite  of  the  strenuous  opposition  of  the 


312  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

president  and  many  prominent  members  of  the  association 
and  even  in  the  face  of  opposition  from  the  newly  organized 
Cottonwood  association,  he  carried  his  point,  and  since  that 
time  Cottonwood  firsts  and  seconds  have  been  six  inches  and 
over  in  width. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  Alexander  Club,  of  Cairo, 
the  business  and  athletic  organization  of  the  prominent  young 
men  of  the  city,  and  was  on  the  governing  board  as  well  as 
being  on  the  house  committee  of  the  Elks  Club.  He  was  the 
first  exalted  ruler  of  Cairo  Lodge  No.  651,  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  and, 
on  retiring  from  office,  was  the  recipient  of  a  magnificent 
diamond  jewel.  He  is  a  Hoo-Hoo  also.  His  abilities  as  a 
presiding  officer  and  parliamentarian  are  often  called  into  play 
at  the  various  meetings  he  attends;  and,  with  his  prominence 
and  a  host  of  friends,  he  was  one  of  the  social  lights  of  the 
city  where  he  made  his  home.  Since  his  removal  to  Memphis 
his  health  has  not  permitted  the  expenditure  of  much  time 
and  strength  outside  of  his  business  duties. 


Ma  nd> 


n 


*'•  ivfy  or  1.  ui   mi  acciuciii,  uut 

wdicated  Uj.M^u  a.  ttiniii  uiictini^  iurce  which  is  equipped 
lormulate  a  plan  and  to  carry  it  to  a  successful  termination 
after  it  has  been  mapped  out.     This  directing  force  is  charac- 
teristic of  Maxwell  Sondheimer,  of  Memphis,  Tennessee. 
He  is  the  directing  head  of  one  of  the  largest  manufactur- 
ed wholesale  hardwood  lumber  concerns  in  the  United 
^  r^  '  ^  decade  ago  the  operations  of  the  com- 

:ts  were  cr    '  to  local  deliveries 

ceding  year  after 

ed  more  widely 

"  ar  to 

and 


-.  o^rn 

is  the 

°^  i^manuel 

Sonu..  ^^,  ^n  the  mcr- 


*\ 


MAX\A/E:I_L    SOtsJDHEIMER 


Maxwell  Sondhelmer 


A  thoroughly  practical  knowledge  of  the  lumber  Industry, 
combined  with  a  conservative  judgment,  is  one  of  the  main 
attributes  of  success,  few  failures  having  been  scored  by  those 
who  are  so  endowed.  Contributing  to  a  well-rounded  busi- 
ness equipment  must  needs  be  an  ability  to  solve  the  complex 
questions  that  arise  and  upon  the  correct  solution  of  which 
may  depend  heavy  losses  or  great  gains.  Business  men  well 
know  that  the  building  up  of  an  extensive  trade  in  any  branch 
of  industry  or  commerce  is  not  the  result  of  an  accident,  but 
is  predicated  upon  a  central  directing  force  which  is  equipped 
to  formulate  a  plan  and  to  carry  it  to  a  successful  termination 
after  it  has  been  mapped  out.  This  directing  force  is  charac- 
teristic of  Maxwell  Sondheimer,  of  Memphis,  Tennessee. 

He  is  the  directing  head  of  one  of  the  largest  manufactur- 
ing and  wholesale  hardwood  lumber  concerns  in  the  United 
States.  Only  about  a  decade  ago  the  operations  of  the  com- 
pany which  he  now  directs  were  confined  to  local  deliveries 
in  a  metropolitan  market.  With  each  succeeding  year  after 
he  took  the  management  the  operations  extended  more  widely 
north  and  south;  the  name  rapidly  became  more  familiar  to 
hardwood  buyers  and  users  throughout  this  country  and 
abroad,  until  now  none  is  better  known  or  stands  higher  in 
the  estimation  of  the  lumber  public;  nor  is  there  a  house  in 
the  country  dealing  exclusively  in  hardwoods  which  enjoys  a 
more  extended  distribution  or  handles  a  larger  volume  of 
lumber. 

Maxwell  Sondheimer  is  a  product  of  a  section  of  the  coun- 
try where  nature  has  produced  big  things.  He  was  born 
September  30,  1859,  in  Healdsburg,  California,  and  is  the 
oldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children.  His  father,  Emanuel 
Sondheimer,  who  died  December  25,  1901,  was  in  the  mer- 

313 


314  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

candle  business  at  Healdsburg,  but  in  1865  moved  with  his 
family  to  Cincinnati.  The  mother  of  Mr.  Sondheimer  was 
Sali  (Lowy)  Sondheimer.  Max  went  to  the  public  schools  in 
Cincinnati  until  his  parents  took  up  their  residence  in  Chicago 
in  1875.  Here  he  resumed  his  studies  and  graduated  from  the 
South  Division  High  School  in  1877.  During  his  last  year  in 
school  he  developed  a  pronounced  literary  inclination  and 
with  a  classmate,  the  late  lamented  Justice  W.  T.  Hall,  he 
edited  and  published  a  weekly  paper  which  attracted  much 
attention,  especially  from  the  school  professors,  who  seriously 
objected  to  the  too  pungent  articles. 

After  getting  his  sheepskin  young  Sondheimer,  in  July, 
1877,  essayed  the  hardwood  lumber  business,  his  father  having 
begun  operations  and  handling  walnut  lumber  exclusively. 
With  the  exception  of  a  year  or  so,  when  he  was  engaged  in 
the  coal  business,  he  has  followed  this  honorable  vocation  ever 
since.  In  May,  1881,  he  accepted  a  position  with  a  Govern- 
ment surveying  party  and  for  some  time  thereafter  he  traveled 
through  the  West,  leading  the  life  of  a  plainsman  on  the 
frontier  and  otherwise  enjoying  the  open  air  life  and  gaining 
health  and  strength. 

In  the  fall  of  1885,  his  father  having  meanwhile  formed  a 
partnership  with  W.  O.  King,  Mr.  Sondheimer  assumed  a 
connection  with  this  firm  and  devoted  himself  to  the  buying 
of  walnut.  Upon  the  dissolution  of  the  firm,  in  1886,  he 
acquired  an  interest  in  the  business,  which  was  thereafter  con- 
ducted under  the  style  of  E.  Sondheimer  &  Co.  The  yard 
was  then  located  on  Loomis  Street,  but  in  1891  was  moved  to 
Blue  Island  Avenue,  near  Wood  Street.  The  same  year 
Moses  Katz,  who  was  then  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  at 
Wausau,  Wisconsin,  was  admitted  to  partnership,  and,  until 
the  removal  of  the  headquarters  of  the  concern  to  Memphis, 
in  1905,  he  looked  after  the  northern  buying,  making  his 
headquarters  at  Wausau.  Mr.  Sondheimer,  Senior,  was  in 
charge  of  the  financial  end  of  the  business,  while  the  son 
assumed  the  office  and  sales  management.     In  1893  the  firm 


MAXWELL  SONDHEIMER  315 

secured  a  new  yard  occupying  the  entire  block  between  Wood 
and  Lincoln  streets,  north  of  the  Burlington  tracks.  Late  in 
1902  another  yard  and  several  hundred  feet  of  dockage  were 
secured  at  the  foot  of  Robey  Street.  For  a  year  or  two  both 
yards  were  operated,  but  in  1904  the  Wood  Street  yard  was 
vacated  and  the  offices  of  the  company  located  in  a  downtown 
office  building. 

In  May,  1900,  the  partnership  of  E.  Sondheimer  &  Co. 
was  changed  to  a  corporation  and  capitalized  at  $150,000,  with 
E.  Sondheimer  as  president  and  treasurer;  Moses  Katz,  vice 
president,  and  Max  Sondheimer,  secretary  and  manager. 
Other  stockholders  and  directors  included  Henry  and  Rudolph 
Sondheimer,  younger  brothers  of  Mr.  Sondheimer.  After 
the  death  of  the  senior  Sondheimer,  the  company  was  reor- 
ganized and  a  considerable  quantity  of  stock  owned  by  the 
deceased  was  acquired  by  a  son-in-law,  Moritz  Glauber,  of 
Cripple  Creek,  Colorado,  and  the  following  officers  were 
elected:  President  and  general  manager.  Maxwell  Sond- 
heimer; vice  president,  Moses  Katz;  secretary  and  treasurer, 
Moritz  Glauber;  assistant  managers,  Henry  Sondheimer  and 
Rudolph  Sondheimer. 

An  important  step  in  the  company's  progress  was  taken 
May  I,  1905,  when  the  main  offices  were  moved  from  Chicago 
to  Memphis.  This  project  had  been  in  contemplation  for 
some  time,  and  the  decision  was  reached  only  after  the  most 
careful  investigation  of  the  situation,  especially  from  a  hard- 
wood manufacturing  standpoint.  The  primary  reason  for  this 
step  was  the  decadence  of  northern  hardwood  operations  and 
the  corresponding  enhancement  of  the  southern  fields.  With 
its  large  interests  wholly  concentrated  in  the  South,  the  change 
of  location  was  the  logical  outcome  of  the  altered  conditions. 
A  Chicago  office  is  maintained  in  the  Stock  Exchange  Build- 
ing and  is  in  charge  of  Henry  Sondheimer. 

The  company  operates  large  yards  at  Memphis,  Tennessee ; 
Cairo,  Illinois,  and  Caruthersville,  Missouri,  assembling  at 
those  points  southern  hardwoods  of  all  kinds,  which  are  re- 


3i6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

ceived  by  rail  and  water  for  distribution  over  the  country  by 
rail.  The  company  has  extensive  manufacturing  interests  at 
Cairo  and  other  points  in  neighboring  states. 

Mr.  Sondheimer  has  always  been  an  active  participant  in 
the  affairs  of  the  National  Hardwood  Lumber  Association,  and 
for  several  years  served  as  one  of  its  vice  presidents.  At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  association  at  Indianapolis,  in  1903,  he 
came  within  one  vote  of  being  chosen  its  president.  He  was  a 
pillar  of  the  Chicago  Hardwood  Lumber  Exchange  and  held 
the  office  of  treasurer  for  two  terms.  He  is  a  veteran  Hoo- 
Hoo  and  has  served  as  vicegerent  snark  for  Illinois.  In  the 
station  of  junior  Hoo-Hoo  he  has  a  reputation  for  unique  and 
interesting  work  that  extends  all  over  the  country  and  is  said 
to  have  no  equal  in  this  position.  He  is  a  good  speaker,  witty 
and  resourceful,  and  is  the  life  of  association  meetings  and 
other  gatherings  which  he  attends.  Among  clubs  and  societies 
he  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Press  Club,  the  Standard  Club, 
the  Masonic  order,  the  Benevolent  Protective  Order  of  Elks 
and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  Since  taking  up  his  residence  in 
Memphis  he  has  taken  much  interest  in  the  social  and  com- 
mercial life  of  that  city,  and  is  interested  in  several  enterprises. 
In  politics  he  is  a  RepubHcan.  Mr.  Sondheimer  married 
Miss  Josephine  Levy,  of  New  York  City,  in  1897. 


T  T 


r>  ot  his  fellows  have  failed. 

land,  Ohio,  is  of  that  type  of  ci  sc 

h  has  wrought  wonders  in  the  commercial  world. 

t  the  head  of  more  varied  enterprises  would  be 

to  discover,  and  in  the  lead  of  these  are  his  lumber 

*. 

Mr.  Christy  is  ncaring  the  three-score  mark  in  years,  but 
time  has  dealt  Ici  him  and  his  forceful  movements 

are  those  of  a  i  i.     He  is  exceptionally  alert 

mentallv  and   era^of  ag  his  deci- 

re  strangers 
-s  phase  of 

ir  intprP5f^d 


of  It 

th<-' 

A. 


vTeiRHt,  -^Hki 


HENRY    CLAY     CHRISTY 


Henry  C.  Christy 


Difficulty  Is  encountered  in  analyzing  the  elements  of  suc- 
cess that  go  to  make  up  the  character  of  some  men.  They 
may  be  endowed  with  ability,  energy,  will  power  and  actual 
physical  strength;  yet  these  do  not  altogether  reveal  the  secret 
of  an  individual's  eminence  above  his  associates,  and  of  his 
success  where  scores  of  his  fellows  have  failed.  Henry  Clay 
Christy,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  is  of  that  type  of  citizen  whose 
very  touch  has  wrought  wonders  in  the  commercial  world. 
An  individual  at  the  head  of  more  varied  enterprises  would  be 
hard  to  discover,  and  in  the  lead  of  these  are  his  lumber 
interests. 

Mr.  Christy  is  nearing  the  three-score  mark  in  years,  but 
time  has  dealt  leniently  with  him  and  his  forceful  movements 
are  those  of  a  much  younger  man.  He  is  exceptionally  alert 
mentally  and  grasps  a  situation  quickly,  rendering  his  deci- 
sions in  such  short  order  as  to  surprise  those  who  are  strangers 
to  his  business  methods.  A  story  illustrative  of  this  phase  of 
his  character  is  told  of  the  way  in  which  he  became  interested 
in  a  hardware  store  in  his  native  State — Ohio.  As  a  youth  he 
was  living  at  Warren,  and  one  day  he  heard  of  an  opportunity 
of  securing  a  half  interest  in  the  business  mentioned.  Al- 
though his  knowledge  of  hardware  was  extremely  limited,  he 
did  not  hesitate  about  inquiring  Into  the  proposition.  Within 
fifteen  minutes  after  he  had  opened  negotiations  with  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  place,  Mr.  Christy  was  a  half  owner  in  the 
premises  and  stock.  This  stroke  of  enterprise  proved  a  suc- 
cess and  Is  but  one  of  a  long  line  of  similar  investments  that 
quickly  brought  substantial  returns.  Not  all  judgments  are 
given  with  as  great  rapidity  as  was  this  one,  as  he  is  a  thorough 
business  man,  with  whom  overconfidence  is  not  a  falling. 

It  was  after  Henry  C.  Christy  had  formed  a  partnership 

317 


3i8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

with  Isaac  Kirk,  to  engage  in  the  hardware  business  in  War- 
ren, Ohio,  in  1867,  that  the  advantage  of  deahng  in  lumber  as 
a  side  line  was  developed.  It  was  apparent  that  the  two  could 
be  worked  together  successfully,  because  many  of  the  firm's 
customers  were  builders  and  used  a  large  amount  of  lumber. 
Kirk  &  Christy,  the  title  under  which  the  two  men  traded, 
immediately  began  the  purchase  of  timber  in  Ohio  and  the 
production  of  ties  and  lumber.  A  ready  market  for  the  out- 
put of  the  firm  was  found  and  the  business  prospered  from  the 
start.  Mr.  Christy  paid  considerable  attention  to  the  lumber 
interests  and  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  details  of 
manufacturing. 

For  ten  years  the  hardware  and  lumber  business  thrived 
under  the  direction  of  the  two  partners,  who  labored  in  entire 
harmony.  Then  it  was  decided  to  extend  the  firm's  affairs, 
and  Howard  C.  Bradley,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  was  taken  into 
partnership  and  the  name  changed  to  Kirk,  Christy  &  Co. 
Subsequently,  it  was  determined  to  add  to  its  resources,  and  the 
business  of  the  firm  was  incorporated  as  the  Kirk-Christy  Com- 
pany, with  a  paid-in  capital  of  $200,000.  Executive  offices 
were  established  in  Cleveland  and  a  large  wholesale  yard  was 
stocked.  This  business  increased  in  volume  each  year  of  its 
existence. 

But  Mr.  Christy  discovered  greater  opportunities  in  the 
lumber  industry.  Large  timber  acreages  could  be  purchased 
and  developed  and  a  wider  scope  of  markets  found.  With  the 
object  of  still  further  enlarging  the  business  upon  the  plan  he 
mapped  out,  the  Kirk-Christy  Company  was,  on  June  2,  1902, 
merged  into  the  Advance  Lumber  Company,  a  newly  incor- 
porated concern,  with  a  capital  of  $250,000.  Mr.  Christy  was 
made  general  manager,  the  other  officers  being  Howard  C. 
Bradley,  president;  Isaac  Kirk  and  G.  E.  Breece,  vice  presi- 
dents; A.  G.Webb,  secretary,  and  F.  T.  Peitch,  assistant  gen- 
eral manager. 

In  the  new  company  Mr.  Christy  displayed  his  talents  to 
greater  advantage  than  ever  before  and  the  concern,  under 


HENRY  C.  CHRISTY  319 

his  able  and  intelligent  management,  was  a  success  from  its 
inception.  The  Advance  Lumber  Company  took  over  the 
mills  and  timber  holdings  of  the  Kirk-Christy  Company,  in 
addition  to  a  stock  of  35,000,000  feet  of  dry  hardwoods  and 
white  and  norway  pine  ready  for  shipment.  The  business  was 
divided  into  several  departments,  though  Mr.  Christy  remained 
directly  in  charge  of  each  one. 

Another  enterprise  which  Mr.  Christy  was  instrumental  in 
launching  is  the  Empire  Lumber  Company,  of  Buffalo,  New 
York.  That  company  was  organized  January  i,  1892,  with  a 
capital  of  $50,000,  which  was  later  increased  to  $200,000.  He 
became  president  of  the  company  and  F.  W.  Vetter  was  made 
general  manager.  Offices  are  maintained  in  Buffalo,  where  a 
large  stock  of  hardwoods  is  carried  in  the  yard.  Through 
this  company  Mr.  Christy  made  a  purchase  of  a  tract  of  20,000 
acres  of  timber,  mostly  oak,  in  Chicot  County,  Arkansas.  In 
the  center  of  the  tract  has  sprung  up  the  town  of  Empire, 
which  is  connected  with  the  outside  world  at  Portland,  Arkan- 
sas, by  a  standard  gauge  railroad  twelve  miles  in  length.  A 
mill  was  operated  by  the  company  on  the  tract  until  the  plant 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  when  the  sawing  was  given  to  another 
mill  on  contract. 

The  Kentucky  Lumber  &  Veneer  Company,  of  Jackson, 
Kentucky,  is  another  concern  of  which  Mr.  Christy  is  the 
directing  power.  The  company  was  organized  September  i, 
1901,  with  a  capital  of  $150,000.  It  owns  8,000  acres  of  poplar 
and  oak  timber  lands  and  operates  a  modern  sawmill.  A 
standard  gauge  railroad,  eleven  miles  long,  connects  the  mill 
with  the  Lexington  &  Eastern  Railway,  at  Jackson,  Kentucky, 
over  which  road  the  product  of  the  mill  is  shipped. 

Mr.  Christy  was  president  of  the  Cuyahoga  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Cleveland,  capitalized  at  $75,000,  which  handles  white 
and  norway  pine  exclusively.  He  still  retains  his  interest  in 
the  company,  but  has  retired  from  the  active  management  of 
its  affairs.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Mud  Lake  Lumber 
Company,  of  Raber,  Michigan.     This  company,  which  has  a 


320  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

capital  of  $50,000,  owns  a  large  tract  of  timber  land  in  the 
upper  peninsula  of  Michigan,  in  connection  with  which  a  mill 
is  operated  at  Raber.  Mr.  Christy  is  a  director  in  the  Cleve- 
land Land  &  Timber  Company,  the  Northern  Ohio  Lumber 
Company  and  the  Worden  Lumber  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, of  Cleveland,  and  of  the  West  Virginia  Timber  Corn- 
puny,  of  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 

But  the  interests  already  enumerated  do  not  by  any  means 
comprise  the  whole  of  Mr.  Christy's  enterprises.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  the  McCart-Christy  Company,  of  Cleveland,  one  of  the 
largest  wholesale  grocery  houses  in  the  country,  doing  a  yearly 
business  of  approximately  $3,000,000.  The  company  was  in- 
corporated January  i,  1900.  He  is  president  of  the  Warren 
Hardware  Company,  of  Warren,  Ohio,  which  concern  manu- 
factures steel  ranges  that  have  a  sale  all  over  the  country.  He 
is  also  a  director  of  the  Standard  Brick  Company,  of  Cleve- 
land, which  has  one  of  the  most  complete  plants  in  the  United 
States,  with  an  output  of  100,000  bricks  a  day. 

In  financial  affairs  Mr.  Christy  has  made  a  success,  as  he 
has  in  every  business  with  which  he  has  connected  himself. 
When  the  Colonial  National  Bank  of  Cleveland  was  organized 
in  1898,  Mr.  Christy  became  its  president,  and  on  its  consolida- 
tion with  the  Union  National  Bank  he  became  vice  president 
of  the  latter  institution  and  chairman  of  its  discount  committee. 
The  bank  was  established  by  the  late  Senator  M.  A.  Hanna 
and  is  one  of  the  foremost  commercial  banks  of  the  country. 

The  only  relaxation  from  business  cares  Mr.  Christy  enjoys 
is  with  his  family,  all  his  leisure  hours  being  spent  with  them. 
He  is  an  enthusiastic  automobilist  and  can  often  be  seen  in  the 
evening  enjoying  a  run  in  his  touring  car  through  the  parks 
and  boulevards  of  Cleveland. 


Rnrnes 


O 


'I   auu   liit:  iiicti 


V     rt  t  ^ '  1    1 1. 1 »»     1  ? 

uiufacturcr.     Oht  wuo 
apprenuijc&inp  in  the  retail  yard  to  good  advantage 
18  L^nanes  I.  Barnes,  of  Toledo,  Ohio. 

He  took  up  his  lumber  career  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  by  engaging  in  a  clerical  position  with  a  retail  yard 
in  Toledo,  Ohio.  He  spent  five  years  with  this  employer  in 
that  thriving  city,  where  he  has  since  become  a  prominent 

ng  lumbermen.     In  1889  he  entered 
mto  ii  Clinton  A.  Mauk,  as  Barnes  &  Mauk, 

hat  been  successful  in  building  up  an  immense 
ites  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

of  George  G.  Barnes  and 

,  1862,  at 

:<nH   his 

re 

1  ,,  migrated 

did  not  adopt 

vva5  due  to  the  ambition  of  his 

-    __inmcrcial  life,  and  they  edu- 

His  scholastic  training  was  in  the 

^^^.  igh  the  various  grades  of  which 

he  psa.-^w,  ..  ^'"^e  highest.     Having  finished 

school  young  >  ^ae  operation  of  the  farm  until 

1883,  when  he  uau  .  'ood. 


CHARUES     I.     BARNES 


Charles  I.  Barnes 


One  of  the  best  schools  in  the  lumber  industry,  and  one 
that  has  turned  out  hundreds  of  well-equipped  pupils  who 
have  given  creditable  exhibition  of  their  training,  is  the  retail 
lumber  yard.  It  is  in  the  dingy  office  or  among  the  piles  of  a 
small  yard  that  the  student  comes  into  contact  with  the  con- 
suming class  and  gains  intimate  knowledge  of  its  needs,  and 
acquires  at  least  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  the  business 
of  the  wholesale  distributor  and  the  manufacturer.  One  who 
served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  retail  yard  to  good  advantage 
is  Charles  I.  Barnes,  of  Toledo,  Ohio. 

He  took  up  his  lumber  career  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  by  engaging  in  a  clerical  position  with  a  retail  yard 
in  Toledo,  Ohio.  He  spent  five  years  with  this  employer  in 
that  thriving  city,  where  he  has  since  become  a  prominent 
figure  among  its  enterprising  lumbermen.  In  1889  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  Clinton  A.  Mauk,  as  Barnes  &  Mauk, 
and  the  firm  has  been  successful  in  building  up  an  immense 
trade  in  the  northern  states  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Charles  I.  Barnes  is  the  son  of  George  G.  Barnes  and 
Elizabeth  (Miller)  Barnes  and  was  born  June  23,  1862,  at 
Dundee,  Monroe  County,  Michigan.  His  father  and  his 
grandparents  on  both  the  paternal  and  maternal  side  were 
agriculturists,  the  early  members  of  the  family  having  migrated 
to  Michigan  from  the  Empire  State.  That  he  did  not  adopt 
the  vocation  of  his  father  was  due  to  the  ambition  of  his 
parents  to  have  him  follow  a  commercial  life,  and  they  edu- 
cated him  for  that  purpose.  His  scholastic  training  was  in  the 
public  schools  of  Dundee,  through  the  various  grades  of  which 
he  passed,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  Having  finished 
school  young  Barnes  assisted  in  the  operation  of  the  farm  until 
1883,  when  he  had  reached  manhood. 

321 


322  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Mr.  Barnes  himself  is  not  able  to  give  a  reason  for  his 
being  drawn  to  the  lumber  industry  as  an  attractive  field  in 
which  to  labor.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  sought  and  obtained 
a  position  in  the  office  of  James  Mason,  who  at  that  time  con- 
ducted a  retail  yard  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  As  a  clerk  or  book- 
keeper the  young  man  paid  strict  attention  to  his  duties  and 
quickly  absorbed  the  methods  of  doing  business.  He  availed 
himself  of  every  opportunity  to  get  out  into  the  yard  so  that  he 
could  handle  lumber,  familiarized  himself  with  grading  and 
prices  and  stored  up  a  fund  of  information  to  be  drawn  upon 
when  a  chance  offered.  As  Mr.  Barnes  showed  he  could 
handle  customers  and  make  sales,  additional  duties  besides 
keeping  accounts  were  put  upon  him  by  his  employer,  and 
during  his  later  service  he  was  intrusted  with  much  of  the 
buying  of  stock  for  the  yard. 

In  1888,  after  Mr.  Barnes  had  been  associated  with  Mr. 
Mason  for  five  years,  the  yard  business  at  Toledo  was  sold  to 
Chesbrough  Bros.,  who  later  were  succeeded  by  the  Ches- 
brough  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Barnes  continued  with  the 
new  owners  of  the  business,  who  were  pleased  with  the  record 
of  the  young  man  as  an  executive  head.  He  was  given  a 
larger  share  of  the  active  management  of  the  business  as  he 
demonstrated  his  worth,  and  from  1888  until  1897  he  dealt 
with  the  customers  of  the  house  and  had  much  to  do  with  the 
buying  of  lumber  for  the  yard.  In  this  period  of  ten  years 
he  observed  closely  the  trade  in  general,  and  the  announce- 
ment that  he  was  going  to  resign  to  go  into  business  for  him- 
self was  received  with  regret  by  the  company. 

After  fifteen  years  spent  in  the  retail  lumber  business 
Mr.  Barnes  was  well  equipped  to  engage  in  the  wholesale 
trade.  It  was  with  this  purpose  in  view  that  he  resigned  his 
position  with  the  Chesbrough  Lumber  Company,  in  1897,  to 
begin  a  few  months  later,  in  1898,  a  distributing  business 
under  his  own  name.  He  established  his  headquarters  in 
Toledo,  taking  a  step  that  has  since  proved  to  have  been  well 
advised.     He  was  acquainted  with  the  personnel  of  the  trade 


CHARLES  I.  BARNES  323 

tributary  to  the  Maumee  River  district,  so  that  he  had  little 
difficulty  in  getting  a  large  volume  of  business  from  the  start. 
He  continued  this  business  until  May  4,  1899,  when  he  became 
associated  with  a  personal  and  business  friend — Clinton  A. 
Mauk — and  the  firm  of  Barnes  &  Mauk  was  launched  to  con- 
duct a  wholesale  business.  Mr.  Mauk  himself  was  an  experi- 
enced lumberman,  so  that  the  combination  was  an  effective  one. 

Experience  had  taught  both  Mr.  Barnes  and  Mr.  Mauk 
that  dependable  mill  connections  were  of  as  great  importance 
in  the  making  of  a  profitable  business  as  were  grades  and 
prices.  When  planning  for  stocks  of  white  pine,  hemlock, 
yellow  pine  and  the  hardwoods  of  Michigan  the  firm  sought 
the  most  reputable  producers,  with  whom  contracts  were 
made.  The  theory  was  that,  while  the  best  manufactured 
lumber  was  the  most  acceptable,  it  also  was  necessary  to  have 
mills  from  which  the  needs  of  the  customers  of  the  house 
could  be  supplied  promptly.  Satisfactory  connections  were 
made  by  Mr.  Barnes  and  his  partner,  the  good  results  of  which 
are  shown  in  the  ever  increasing  volume  of  business  handled. 
In  the  first  year  of  the  partnership  the  trade  sought  was 
restricted  to  a  comparatively  small  territory,  but  today  the 
business  transacted  is  with  concerns  in  at  least  half  of  the 
United  States. 

The  value  of  Pacific  Coast  products  early  impressed  itself 
upon  Mr.  Barnes  and  his  associate.  It  was  evident  that  a  sub- 
stitute for  white  pine  and  hemlock  would  be  demanded  be- 
cause of  the  growing  scarcity  of  these  woods.  The  situation 
was  gone  over  carefully  and  the  firm  undertook  the  work  of 
introducing  to  its  eastern  trade  the  sugar  and  white  pine  of 
California,  and  the  cedar,  fir  and  red  cedar  shingles  of  Wash- 
ington. In  1902  arrangements  were  concluded  for  the  han- 
dling of  Pacific  Coast  woods  in  an  intelligent  and  modern 
manner,  a  direct  representative  being  placed  on  the  Coast  and 
the  output  of  two  California  mills  contracted  for.  The  firm, 
better  to  conserve  this  trade,  built  three  large  storage  ware- 
houses at  Toledo,  two  of  the  buildings  being  50  by  350  feet 


324  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  the  third  50  by  4CX)  feet.  These  warehouses  permit  of  the 
shipment  and  storage  of  several  million  feet  of  Coast  woods, 
from  which  mixed  carloads  can  be  shipped  promptly  to  any 
point  in  the  East.  By  this  arrangement  the  firm  overcame 
the  objection  of  many  dealers  to  having  to  accept  full  carloads 
of  Coast  products  which  could  not  be  disposed  of  quickly, 
and  at  the  same  time  obviated  the  delay  incident  to  shipments 
from  the  Pacific  territory. 

The  main  offices  of  Barnes  &  Mauk  are  in  the  Gardner 
Building,  Toledo.  A  branch  office  is  located  in  the  Lumber 
Exchange,  Seattle,  Washington,  where  Henry  S.  Stine,  who 
has  been  connected  with  the  firm  since  1903,  is  in  charge. 
The  latter  has  charge  of  the  shipments  and  business  on  the 
Coast  and  looks  after  the  customers  of  the  house  in  the  middle 
West.  In  the  New  England  states  the  business  of  Barnes 
&  Mauk  is  cared  for  by  the  Harlow  Lumber  Company,  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut. 

Mr.  Barnes  married  Miss  Jennie  Van  Pelt,  of  Sylvania, 
Ohio,  November  9,  1886.  One  child,  a  boy— George  Thomas 
Barnes — was  born  of  this  union.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Mr.  Barnes  is  a  Mason 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  the  Commandery,  the 
Consistory  and  the  Mystic  Shrine,  all  of  Toledo.  He  is  a 
Republican  in  politics,  though  he  has  never  essayed  to  become 
a  politician.  He  has  no  fads,  and  is  satisfied,  after  a  day  of 
business,  to  enjoy  his  family  and  the  comforts  of  his  home. 


Cli 


1  ikc  t  the 


or  t 
r  may  relax  his  vigilencc  until  the 
jT  is  reached.     Clinton  A.   Mauk,  of  Toledo, 
s    steered    his    %h'\p   of   '  g    a    successful 

ii  to  have  made  a  profit- 

able vv;      ^  he  been  successful  in  a  business 

way,  but  he  has  gained  the  enviable  position  he  holds  today  as 
a  member  of  the  progressive  firm  of  Barnes  &  Mauk  without 
having  sacrificed  friends  or  made  enemies.  His  training  in 
the  lum^'^''  tr-if^p  ^pfore  he  ventured  to  engage  in  business 
^^r^^^r  vvas  thorough,  as  he  was  associated  with 

—^•"t  of  a   retail  yard   before  going   to 
tU^   {  .r  ...  ,^(  ^  leading  wholesale 

lii  the  employ  of  this 
ro  study  the  industry 

auended  his 

1869,   at 

i  vV    ''     k, 

.nng 

VV.  Mauk  was  a  first  lieu- 

g  in  sixteen 

e:  rt  of  the  army  in  the 

fa  i.     Going 

to  Lima  .,   the  soldier  made  his 

home  there  a   retail   lumber  yard  in 

>4UAM     HAVJA     MOTHlJO 


% 


CLINTON     AL.VAH     MAUK 


Clinton  A.  Mauk 


Like  the  mariner  who  guides  his  ship  according  to  the 
chart  and  compass,  on  an  ocean  voyage,  so  must  the  man  who 
pursues  a  commercial  career  outline  a  safe  course  to  be 
followed  unerringly.  Rocks  and  shoals  are  to  be  found  by 
the  commander  of  a  cargo  carrier  or  the  captain  of  a  business 
enterprise,  so  that  neither  may  relax  his  vigilence  until  the 
destined  harbor  is  reached.  Clinton  A.  Mauk,  of  Toledo, 
Ohio,  has  steered  his  ship  of  business  along  a  successful 
industrial  course  and  well  can  be  said  to  have  made  a  profit- 
able voyage.  Not  only  has  he  been  successful  in  a  business 
way,  but  he  has  gained  the  enviable  position  he  holds  today  as 
a  member  of  the  progressive  firm  of  Barnes  &  Mauk  without 
having  sacrificed  friends  or  made  enemies.  His  training  in 
the  lumber  trade  before  he  ventured  to  engage  in  business 
under  his  own  name  was  thorough,  as  he  was  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  conduct  of  a  retail  yard  before  going  to 
Toledo,  where  he  joined  the  forces  of  a  leading  wholesale 
house.  In  the  ten  years  he  remained  in  the  employ  of  this 
one  concern  he  had  ample  opportunity  to  study  the  industry 
in  all  its  phases,  and  what  attentiveness  he  displayed  as  an 
employee  is  reflected  in  the  success  which  has  attended  his 
career  as  a  wholesaler. 

Clinton  Alvah  Mauk  was  born  September  15,  1869,  at 
Lima,  Allen  County,  Ohio.  His  father  was  Alvah  W.  Mauk, 
and  his  mother  Winifred  N.  (McMillan)  Mauk.  During 
the  conflict  of  the  Civil  War  Alvah  W.  Mauk  was  a  first  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Thirty-third  Ohio  Infantry,  serving  in  sixteen 
engagements.  His  regiment  formed  part  of  the  army  in  the 
famous  march  of  General  Sherman  through  Georgia.  Going 
to  Lima  upon  the  close  of  hostilities,  the  soldier  made  his 
home  there  and,   in   1870,   opened  a   retail   lumber  yard  in 

325 


326  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

partnership  with  B.  F.  Dunan,  as  Mauk  &  Dunan.  That 
business  was  continued  until  1887,  when  Mr.  Mauk  sold  his 
interest  to  his  partner  and  moved  to  Spencerville,  Ohio, 
where  he  opened  a  yard  and  remained  in  control  until  fire 
destroyed  it  in  1897.  Because  of  his  advanced  age  Mr. 
Mauk  retired.  It  was  in  the  Spencerville  yard  that  Clinton 
A.  Mauk  had  his  introduction  to  the  lumber  business,  and 
where  the  principles  of  honesty  and  integrity  were  instilled 
in  his  mind  by  his  father,  to  be  followed  throughout  his  life 
unvaryingly. 

It  was  in  the  public  schools  of  Lima  that  Mr.  Mauk  began 
his  education,  which  was  amplified  by  a  course  at  the  Ohio 
Northern  University,  at  Ada.  He  graduated  from  this  insti- 
tution in  1887,  and  a  short  time  thereafter  decided  to  learn 
the  lumber  business,  entering  the  yard  of  his  father  at 
Spencerville.  The  parent  had  a  watchful  eye  over  his  son, 
and  placed  him  at  the  beginning  in  a  humble  position  where 
he  might  learn  the  work  of  handling  lumber  before  being 
put  in  the  office.  The  college  man  had  gained  a  fair  knowl- 
edge of  the  business  when  he  moved  to  Toledo  in  January, 
1889,  to  enter  the  employ,  as  bookkeeper,  of  the  wholesale 
lumber  firm  of  Kelsey  &  Freeman. 

For  ten  years  Mr.  Mauk  was  connected  with  the  Toledo 
firm,  where  he  obtained  a  schooling  in  the  business  such  as 
would  have  been  almost  impossible  to  secure  anywhere  else. 
From  bookkeeper  he  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  chief 
accountant,  and,  in  time,  practically  took  charge  of  all  the 
office  work  for  his  employers.  In  less  than  two  years  he  was 
made  one  of  their  force  of  traveling  salesmen,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  during  the  remainder  of  the  time  he  was 
in  their  employ.  The  knowledge  of  marketing  stocks  and  the 
acquaintance  he  formed  during  that  period  formed  a  valuable 
asset  of  his  later  career.  The  wholesale  business  was  much  to 
his  liking,  and  he  gained  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
buying  of  stocks  and  their  distribution  to  the  trade.  It  was 
such  a  schooling  as  Mr.  Mauk  desired,  for  he  was  planning 


CLINTON  A.  MAUK  327 

the   day  when  he  might  engage   in   the   wholesale    business 
himself. 

The  longed-for  opportunity  to  gratify  this  ambition  came 
in  1899.  At  that  time  Charles  I.  Barnes  had  been  engaged  in 
the  wholesale  business  in  Toledo  for  about  a  year,  and  Mr. 
Mauk  had  met  him  frequently.  The  two  men  determined  to 
establish  themselves  as  wholesalers,  and,  on  May  4,  1899,  the 
firm  of  Barnes  &  Mauk  made  its  initial  bow  to  the  trade. 
The  success  which  has  attended  this  combination  of  forces  is 
httle  less  than  remarkable.  Mr.  Mauk  had  formed  high 
principles  of  what  a  business  should  be,  which  were,  for- 
tunately, shared  by  his  partner.  The  long  acquaintance  of 
both  men  with  the  producers  of  the  North  and  South  per- 
mitted of  their  forming  the  best  mill  connections  for  stocks  of 
white  pine,  hemlock,  Michigan  hardwoods  and  yellow  pine. 
The  firm  was  not  hampered  by  a  lack  of  capital  at  the  outset, 
and  within  a  year  the  energy  and  ability  of  Mr.  Mauk  and  his 
associate  resulted  in  the  building  up  of  a  large  chentele  in  the 
middle  West  and  North. 

With  the  passing  of  time  Barnes  &  Mauk  extended  their 
trade  into  the  East  and  the  New  England  states.  The  busi- 
ness for  the  firm  in  the  latter  section  later  was  turned  over  to 
the  Harlow  Lumber  Company,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  the 
orders  being  handled  direct  from  the  Toledo  ofHces,  located 
in  the  Gardner  Building.  The  attention  of  Mr.  Mauk  and 
Mr.  Barnes  was  attracted  to  the  possibilities  of  Pacific  Coast 
woods  for  consumption.  The  situation  was  considered  care- 
fully before  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  a  steady  demand 
for  Coast  lumber  could  be  created,  provided  the  trade  was 
cared  for  in  a  proper  manner  so  that  stock  in  any  quantity, 
from  a  mixed  carload  to  any  number  of  carloads,  could  be 
delivered  promptly.  It  meant  the  formation  of  close  mill 
connections  with  California  and  Washington  manufacturers 
and  the  arrangement  of  adequate  storage  facilities  at  Toledo 
as  a  central  point  from  which  shipments  could  be  made  direct 
to  the  trade  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 


328  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

In  1903  agreements  were  completed  with  mills  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  for  stocks  of  red  cedar  shingles  and  lumber 
and  California  white  pine  and  sugar  pine.  The  output  of  two 
mills  in  the  Golden  State  are  controlled,  and  large  stocks  are 
bought  elsewhere.  Three  large  sheds— two  50  by  350  feet 
each,  and  the  third  50  by  400  feet— were  built  at  Toledo.  In 
these  sheds  are  carried  millions  of  feet  of  Pacific  Coast  woods 
to  fill  orders  without  delay  for  the  customers  of  the  firm. 
Further  to  provide  for  and  improve  the  service  of  this  depart- 
ment of  the  business  an  office  was  established  in  the  Lumber 
Exchange,  Seattle,  Washington,  which  is  in  the  charge  of 
Henry  S.  Stine.  The  latter  looks  after  the  business  of  the 
firm  in  the  western  states,  besides  having  supervision  of  the 
purchase  and  shipment  of  stocks  from  the  mills  on  the  Coast 
destined  for  the  Toledo  warehouses  of  the  firm. 

A  strict  adherence  to  approved  business  ethics  has  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  success  attained  by  Mr.  Mauk.  In  all 
of  his  deaHngs  are  noticeable  evidences  of  integrity  and  an 
insistence  upon  justice  for  both  parties  to  an  agreement. 
Success  has  in  no  way  detracted  from  his  ideals  of  com- 
mercial and  social  life  and  each  day,  seemingly,  adds  to  his 
circle  of  friends. 

Mr.  Mauk  has  a  delightful  home  in  Toledo,  graced  by  a 
wife  and  three  children.  Mrs.  Mauk,  before  her  marriage, 
December  15,  1896,  was  Miss  Mable  B.  Scraflford.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  the  late  Everett  D.  Scraflford,  of  Toledo,  a 
wholesale  lumberman,  and  the  granddaughter  of  Daniel 
ScraflPord,  who  was  for  many  years  a  wholesaler  of  West 
Troy,  New  York.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mauk  are 
Stanley  M.,  John  S.  and  Catherine  A.  Mauk.  The  family 
attends  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics  Mr. 
Mauk  is  a  Republican,  though  far  from  being  active  or 
ambitious  in  that  line.  He  is  not  a  club  man,  but  spends  all 
his  leisure  with  his  family. 


Wiiiia 


A 

r 


L^lCWtJli 


i.  AC 


-io^iv-i  luiiitss    liii^iiL    ld.ii.    lU    aC- 

liield,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
.lOiTi  the  control  of  r^  *  "'  '  '        arc. 

was  born  and  brought  up  m  uie  community  where  he 
chose  to  enter  business  and  where  he  is  recognized  as  a  lead- 
ing factor  in  the  lumber  industry  and  a  citizen  of  high  ideals. 
In  that  section  of  the  country,  where  Puritanism  has  left  its 
mark  in  the  conservatism  which  enters  largely  into  the  man- 
agement of  every  enterprise,  Mr.  Litchfield  has  advanced  to 

ness  men.     Through  his  efforts  he  has 

of  stability  and  permanency  and 

IRC  who  arc  engaged  in  the 

minent 

of  the 

foot 

-;  the 

^<i,  only 

•  -  -  in  the 

ay  State's  histc,  .accccd- 
e  had  a  part  in  its  making, 
One  of  William  E.  Litch- 
"'as  collector  of  the  port  of 
^y  •  »» illiam  Litchfield,  who  mar- 

ried ,    ,  ,  '   ^i^W«  born  a  son,  William 


\A/IL_l_l  AM 


EIl-IAS    LITCHFIEI-D 


William  E.  Litchfield 


A  mind  broadened  by  education  and  experience,  and  com- 
prehensive enough  to  grasp  every  detail  of  a  diversified  busi- 
ness is  the  strongest  backing  an  honest  purpose  can  have  and 
must  ultimately  lead  to  success.  The  application  of  a  mind 
so  equipped  to  the  working  out  and  harmonizing  of  the  every- 
day complexities  of  trade  achieves  that  which,  without  knowl- 
edge of  details,  brilliancy  and  masterfulness  might  fail  to  ac- 
complish. William  E.  Litchfield,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
is  a  man  to  whom  the  control  of  detail  is  second  nature. 

He  was  born  and  brought  up  in  the  community  where  he 
chose  to  enter  business  and  where  he  is  recognized  as  a  lead- 
ing factor  in  the  lumber  industry  and  a  citizen  of  high  ideals. 
In  that  section  of  the  country,  where  Puritanism  has  left  its 
mark  in  the  conservatism  which  enters  largely  into  the  man- 
agement of  every  enterprise,  Mr.  Litchfield  has  advanced  to 
high  rank  among  business  men.  Through  his  efforts  he  has 
built  up  a  business  on  lines  of  stability  and  permanency  and 
has  been  signally  honored  by  those  who  are  engaged  in  the 
same  occupation. 

William  Elias  Litchfield  comes  of  an  old  and  prominent 
family  which  figured  in  the  making  of  the  early  history  of  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts.  The  first  of  the  family  to  set  foot 
on  American  soil  was  Lawrence  Litchfield,  who  crossed  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from  England  in  1635  in  the  ship  Seabird^  only 
a  few  years  after  the  Pilgrims  had  made  the  voyage  in  the 
Mayflower.  In  every  epoch  of  the  Bay  State's  history,  succeed- 
ing generations  of  the  family  have  had  a  part  in  its  making, 
including  the  present  generation.  One  of  William  E.  Litch- 
field's ancestors,  James  Litchfield,  was  collector  of  the  port  of 
Cohasset.  His  father  was  Joseph  William  Litchfield,  who  mar- 
ried Mary  Jane  Sloan.      To  them  was  born  a  son,  William 

829 


330  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Elias,  August  4,  1861,  at  Cohasset,  a  short  distance  from  Bos- 
ton. New  England  schools  are  known  as  models  of  their  type, 
and  it  was  in  the  common  school  of  his  native  town  that  young 
Litchfield's  mind  received  its  earliest  training.  Later,  he  be- 
came a  student  at  the  Derby  Academy,  at  Hingham,  where 
his  mind  was  developed  to  a  greater  extent  and  where  he  was 
fitted  to  engage  in  a  business  career. 

Mr.  Litchfield  became  a  resident  of  Charlestown,  a  part  of 
Boston,  in  1880,  where  he  secured  an  insight  into  the  lumber 
business.  He  entered  the  employ  of  J.  Buffum  &  Co.,  lum- 
ber dealers,  in  January  of  that  year.  For  four  years  he  applied 
himself  diligently  to  a  practical  study  of  the  business,  advanc- 
ing from  a  minor  position  to  one  of  trust  and  responsibility. 
Then,  having  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  business,  in  January, 
1884,  he  opened  a  retail  yard  under  his  own  name. 

Mr.  Litchfield's  adherence  to  the  retail  trade  was  brief  and 
his  chief  success  and  reputation  came  to  him  in  the  wholesale 
business  which  he  established  in  1887.  He  began  in  that 
year  the  wholesaling  of  hardwoods,  the  business  being  con- 
ducted solely  by  himself;  he  has  continued  it  as  an  individual 
through  all  the  years  that  have  followed,  and  to  him  alone 
must  be  given  the  credit  of  achieving  its  present  magnitude. 
The  trade  he  built  up  extends  throughout  the  New  England 
states  and  the  middle  Atlantic  states,  with  a  largely  increasing 
percentage  to  foreign  countries.  His  methods  of  conducting 
business  have  met  the  approbation  of  all  those  to  whom  he 
ever  sold  an  order.  By  reason  of  the  reputation  he  has  estab- 
lished among  manufacturers  of  hardwoods  he  has  secured 
many  advantages  in  the  acquisition  and  disposition  of  stocks. 

In  addition  to  the  wholesale  business  which  Mr.  Litchfield 
carries  on  in  Boston  he  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  hard- 
woods at  North  Vernon,  Indiana,  in  a  section  celebrated  for  its 
fine  timber.  He  invested  in  this  proposition  with  his  brother, 
George  Albion  Litchfield,  the  same  year  he  began  the  whole- 
sale business.  The  operation  is  carried  on  under  the  name  of 
Litchfield  Bros.    The  mill,  when  bought  in  1887,  had  a  circu- 


WILLIAM  E.  LITCHFIELD  331 

lar  saw,  but  this  equipment  has  been  modernized  in  recent 
years  by  the  installation  of  a  band  saw.  Considerable  timber 
is  bought  of  farmers  and  log-men  throughout  southern  Indi- 
ana, though  the  mill  has  a  good  reserve  of  standing  timber. 
Nearly  all  of  the  stock  sawed  at  this  mill  is  disposed  of  by  Mr. 
Litchfield  direct  to  his  customers.  Besides  these  two  interests 
he  is  a  stockholder  and  a  director  of  the  Willis  C.  Bates  Com- 
pany, of  Boston,  which  does  an  extensive  business  in  dimension 
lumber,  piling,  railroad  ties  and  telegraph  poles. 

As  an  association  worker  Mr.  Litchfield  has  been  energetic 
in  the  promotion  of  every  project  to  the  interest  of  lumber- 
dom  in  general.  He  is  alHed  with  the  National  Wholesale 
Lumber  Dealers' Association  and  with  the  National  Hardwood 
Lumber  Association.  He  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
councils  of  both  associations  and  has  represented  the  New 
England  lumbermen  on  the  hardwood  committee  of  the  na- 
tional wholesalers'  association,  his  appointment  on  that  com- 
mittee being  looked  upon  as  a  recognition  of  his  ability  and 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  hardwood  trade.  He  was  honored 
by  his  business  associates  in  being  chosen  unanimously  for  two 
terms  as  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Wholesale  Lumber 
Association.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Hardwood  Manufactur- 
ers' Association. 

Mr.  Litchfield  married  Miss  Cordelia  A.  Gilbert,  a  daugh- 
ter of  A.  C.  Gilbert,  of  Charlestown,  October  26,  1883.  Six 
children  have  been  born  of  this  union— Christiana,  William 
Gilbert,  Mary  Frances,  Cordelia  Amy,  George  Albion  and 
Ruth  Davenport  Litchfield.  The  first  died  in  infancy  and 
William  Gilbert  succumbed  to  an  accidental  injury  sustained 
three  years  ago. 

In  Masonry  Mr.  Litchfield  has  taken  a  leading  part  and  is 
a  member  of  Henry  Price  Lodge,  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  of 
Charlestown,  and  Coeur  de  Leon  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templar.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Boston  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association,  and  the  Con- 
gregational Club  and  is  a  Hfe  member  of  the  Massachusetts 


332  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Charitable  Mechanics'  Association  and  the  Massachusetts 
Rifle  Association.  He  is  engaged  in  charitable  work  among 
children,  being  president  of  the  Children's  Health  Fund  and 
has  held  that  office  since  the  inception  of  the  organization, 
which  was  the  first  to  give  annual  public  dinners  to  poor  chil- 
dren. 

Mr.  Litchfield  is  of  commanding  appearance,  though  of  re- 
tiring disposition,  and  would  attract  attention  in  any  gathering. 
Courteous  and  aflfable,  he  has  a  host  of  friends  in  both  social 
and  business  life.  He  is  an  indefatigable  worker,  about  his 
only  recreation  being  directing  the  labors  on  the  several  farms 
which  he  owns  and  which  are  conducted  in  the  same  careful, 
methodical  manner  as  is  his  lumber  business. 

Mr.  Litchfield  has  in  his  possession — and  is  justly  proud  of 
the  historic  document — the  original  parchment,  or  license,  is- 
sued to  his  ancestor,  James  Litchfield,  as  collector  of  the  port 
of  Cohasset,  by  King  George  II  and  signed  by  Harrison  Gray. 


o:. 


in 
ed 
V  York, 
ed  by  a 
and  -ity  of  pur- 

pose. He  began  in  the  thrifty  community,  where  he  long  has 
been  an  honored  and  respected  citizen,  without  a  dollar  of 
capital,  and,  by  his  own  perstverance  and  industry,  has 
amassed  a  competency.  But  while  he  has  devoted  himself  all 
these  years  t  z  of  a  business  that  is  a  success,  in 

th^  found  time  to  Darticioatc  as  a 

commur  interest 

in  every 
1  educa- 
ti-  '>^n  one 

of 


A    i  U<^ 


8. 

tic 

mothc  a 

Woman  o  he 

3  U  5^  '      ^^ 


qeorge:   ivers  tru 


George  I.  True 


Sincerity  needs  no  badge,  to  be  worn  like  the  emblem  of 
an  organization,  to  show  that  the  wearer  belongs  to  that  great 
body  of  men  who  do  nothing  except  with  a  conscientious 
effort  toward  righteousness.  It  is  a  virtue  not  lightly  acquired, 
nor  can  it  be  cast  aside  or  assumed  as  occasion  may  demand; 
it  is  a  trait  that  its  possessor  stamps  on  each  individual  act  in 
work  or  recreation.  One  whose  every  act  has  been  dominated 
by  sincerity  is  George  Ivers  True,  of  Addison,  New  York. 

His  career  is  significant  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  a 
strong  body,  a  stronger  heart  and  a  fixity  and  honesty  of  pur- 
pose. He  began  in  the  thrifty  community,  where  he  long  has 
been  an  honored  and  respected  citizen,  without  a  dollar  of 
capital,  and,  by  his  own  perseverance  and  industry,  has 
amassed  a  competency.  But  while  he  has  devoted  himself  all 
these  years  to  the  upbuilding  of  a  business  that  is  a  success,  in 
the  fullest  degree,  he  yet  has  found  time  to  participate  as  a 
public  officer  in  the  affairs  of  his  community  and  to  interest 
himself,  both  by  his  wise  counsel  and  material  aid,  in  every 
cause  tending  toward  the  advancement  of  religion  and  educa- 
tion. He  has  erected  a  monument,  more  enduring  than  one 
of  stone,  in  the  good  deeds  he  has  performed  as  a  citizen. 

George  I.  True  is  the  son  of  Jairus  True  and  Jane  (Kim- 
ball) True,  and  was  born  at  Owego,  Tioga  County,  New  York, 
June  12,  1847.  He  and  his  cousin,  Charles  H.  True,  of  Gal- 
veston, Texas,  are  the  only  living  male  descendants  of  their 
line  of  Henry  True,  an  immigrant  who  settled  in  the  Colony 
of  Massachusetts  in  1659.  In  many  ways  has  Mr.  True  shown 
the  sturdiness  and  stalwartness  of  his  New  England  ancestors. 
He  was  about  five  years  old  when  his  father  died,  and  later  his 
mother  married  Philander  C.  Daniels.  His  mother  was  a 
woman  of  education  and  it  was  at  her  knee  that  he  learned  the 


333 


334  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

alphabet  and  multiplication  tables  before  entering  the  district 
school,  where  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of  the  English 
language.  Subsequently,  he  was  sent  to  the  Owego  Academy, 
where  he  was  a  pupil  until  the  family  moved,  in  April,  1863, 
to  Addison,  Steuben  County,  New  York,  where  Mr.  True 
ever  since  has  made  his  home.  For  a  year  he  followed  a 
course  in  the  select  school  of  the  town,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
period  he  was  called  upon  to  provide  for  himself  and  to  make 
a  choice  of  his  own  career. 

The  pluckiness  and  determination  of  the  youth  was  dem- 
onstrated by  his  requesting  one  of  the  leading  business  men 
of  the  town,  Thomas  Paxton,  to  set  him  to  work,  asking  no 
remuneration  for  his  services  until  he  could  prove  to  the  mer- 
chant that  he  was  worthy  of  consideration.  When  he  was 
granted  this  request  he  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  confi- 
dence imposed  in  him  by  his  employer  by  taking  a  deep 
interest  in  what  transpired  about  him  and  by  giving  all  his 
energy  to  every  task  assigned  him.  It  was  not  long  before  he 
was  paid  fifty  cents  a  day,  only  to  receive  later  $20  a  month 
and  then  $1  a  day.  To  the  youthful  True  his  salary  was  a 
large  sum  of  money  and  he  managed  to  save  a  considerable 
amount  to  provide  a  home  for  his  mother  and  foster  father, 
wherein  they  lived  until  their  deaths  many  years  later.  Faith- 
fully and  sincerely  did  Mr.  True  serve  Mr.  Paxton  until  1868, 
when  he  was  taken  into  partnership  by  his  employer  and  the 
firm  of  Paxton  &  True  continued  the  business  of  general 
dealers  in  boots,  shoes  and  groceries  for  twenty-five  years, 
when  the  partnership  was  dissolved.  From  an  enthusiastic 
young  clerk  and  partner  Mr.  True  developed  into  a  progress- 
ive yet  conservative  business  man  and  a  citizen  who  was  ever 
ready  to  respond  to  the  call  of  duty. 

On  January  i,  1893,  Mr.  True  became  associated  with 
James  H.  Park  and  Burton  G.  Winton  in  the  manufacture  of 
sash,  doors  and  blinds  at  Addison,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Park,  Winton  &  True.  The  firm  succeeded  Park  &  Winton 
and  controlled  a  factory  which  had  been  established  in  Addi- 


GEORGE  I.  TRUE  335 

son  in  1855,  and  continued  the  business,  which  has  widened 
in  its  scope  each  succeeding  year.  Mr.  True  from  the  start 
took  charge  of  the  financial  and  office  end  of  the  business,  for 
which  he  was  fully  equipped  by  reason  of  his  previous  experi- 
ence ;  Mr.  Park  attended  to  the  buying  of  lumber  and  super- 
intending the  operation  of  the  factory  and  Mr.  Winton  looked 
after  the  sales.  For  five  years  no  change  in  the  personnel  of 
the  firm  took  place,  though  the  business  was  largely  extended 
in  that  time.  In  1898,  Mr.  Winton  sold  his  interest  in  the 
business,  a  part  of  it  being  taken  by  his  brother,  Maynard 
Winton,  and  the  remainder  by  his  partners.  In  May,  1900, 
Mr.  Park  was  forced  to  relinquish  active  interest  in  the  firm 
because  of  ill  health,  and,  following  his  death,  in  February, 
1901,  Burton  G.  Winton  again  secured  an  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness, with  which  he  was  identified  until  his  death,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1906.  During  the  long  illness  of  each  of  his  partners  Mr. 
True  shouldered  their  labors  in  the  management  of  the  busi- 
ness and  carried  it  on  successfully  without  interruption.  Ac- 
tively associated  in  the  business  today  with  Mr.  True  are 
William  R.  and  Charles  F.  Park,  sons  of  the  late  James  H. 
Park,  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  firm.  They  are 
energetic  young  business  men  who  are  apparently  destined  to 
add  to  the  strength  and  character  of  the  enterprise. 

Outside  of  his  interest  in  the  manufacturing  business  of 
Park,  Winton  &  True,  Mr.  True  is  a  stockholder  in  several 
other  lumber  enterprises.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
the  Painted  Post  Lumber  Company,  of  Painted  Post,  New 
York;  the  Yadkin  Lumber  Company,  of  Yadkin,  North  Caro- 
lina, which  owns  55,000  acres  of  timber  lands  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State,  and  the  Embreeville  Timber  Company,  of 
Embreeville,  Tennessee,  which  holds  title  to  30,000  acres  of 
timber  in  the  eastern  part  of  Tennessee.  Of  the  latter  con- 
cern Mr.  True  is  vice  president.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  and 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Addison, 
of  which  institution  he  has  been  a  director  most  of  the  time 
since  its  formation.     He  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  associa- 


336  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tion  matters  and  is  vice  president  of  the  Veneered  Door  Man- 
ufacturers' Association.  In  each  of  these  concerns  he  has 
taken  a  conspicuous  part  by  reason  of  his  mature  experience, 
and  his  advice  is  eagerly  sought  by  his  associates  before  any 
serious  step  is  taken. 

Mr.  True  married  Miss  Louise  M.  Turner,  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  F.  Turner,  of  Addison,  June  19,  1872. 
They  have  no  children,  but  their  comfortable  home  has  been 
cheered  and  brightened  by  Miss  Jessica  K.  Turner,  a  sister  of 
Mrs.  Turner,  since  her  childhood.  Mrs.  True  is  a  Daughter 
of  the  American  Revolution,  and  has  given  much  time  and 
money  to  charitable  work.  Mr.  True  is  devoted  to  a  sister, 
Mrs.  C.  C.  Dawson,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Daniels  by  his  first  marriage,  and  between  the  two  a  deep 
affection  exists. 

Mr.  True,  as  becomes  a  man  of  the  highest  type  of  citizen- 
ship, has  taken  a  vital  interest  in  the  municipal  affairs  of  Addi- 
son. He  is  especially  interested  in  the  schools  and  has  served 
several  terms  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  education.  He  has 
been  a  trustee,  director  and  treasurer  of  the  Addison  branch 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  since  he  assisted  in 
its  organization  in  1888.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  has  given  liberally  to  its  support  and  to  its  chari- 
ties. In  March,  1906,  pressure  of  private  business  led  Mr. 
True  to  decHne  reelection  as  village  treasurer,  a  position  he 
had  held  for  twenty-two  years.  In  all  the  offices  he  has  held 
and  in  all  the  work  he  has  undertaken  Mr.  True  has  exempli- 
fied that  sincerity  which  has  marked  his  whole  course  in  life. 

Mr.  True  never  has  affiliated  with  secret  organizations. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  City  Club  of  Addison,  but  practically 
all  his  leisure  time  is  spent  at  home  or  in  such  recreation  as  he 
and  his  wife  can  enjoy  together.  He  has  a  fondness  for  a 
good  horse  and  finds  much  of  his  recreation  in  driving. 


>   I,'  ■v     I     ^ 


.._  of    the    * . —     ...^ ..J     .--    ; 

.    j.^o'-T'v    but  it  outlines  the  career  of 

'   ^^  .,v.,,  York  City.     All  his  business  life  has 

.wi,.  »Miat  is  known  as  North  Carolina  pine,  which 

■"  pine  lumber  manufactured  in  southern  Maryland, 

rginia  and  eastern  North  Carolina,  north  of  the 

-"  territory.     It  consists  of  timber  species  which 

^  ninctive  names,  but  this  territory  is  so  indi- 

viauai  1  '   "s  timber  growth  and  its  production 

is  ^  of  this  district  has  come 

the  State  which 
..     li  ^  the  Wiley, 

p.     Of  this 
i  to  his 
8   If   <  s 


of 


V3_II\A/     MOT_IIM     T$=13a_J3 


^!xf 


EIl-BER-r     MILTON     Vs/IL-CV 


Elbert  M.  Wiley 


From  the  humble  position  of  a  boy  holding  a  tally  sheet  on 
a  wharf  in  his  native  city,  working  from  early  morn  to  sun- 
down for  a  mere  pittance,  through  the  various  stages  of  sales- 
man, manager,  commissioner,  wholesaler  and  manufacturer 
to  the  position  of  the  most  prominent  factor  in  one  of  the 
leading  departments  of  the  lumber  industry  of  the  United 
States  is  a  far  journey,  but  it  outlines  the  career  of  Elbert 
Milton  Wiley,  of  New  York  City.  All  his  business  life  has 
had  to  do  with  what  is  known  as  North  Carolina  pine,  which 
means  the  pine  lumber  manufactured  in  southern  Maryland, 
eastern  Virginia  and  eastern  North  Carolina,  north  of  the 
longleaf  pine  territory.  It  consists  of  timber  species  which 
elsewhere  have  distinctive  names,  but  this  territory  is  so  indi- 
vidual in  the  character  of  its  timber  growth  and  its  production 
is  so  centered  that  the  entire  product  of  this  district  has  come 
to  be  known  as  North  Carolina  pine,  from  the  State  which 
produces  the  greatest  log  supply.  In  this  business  the  Wiley, 
Harker  &  Camp  Company  is  accorded  premiership.  Of  this 
company  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  head,  and  to  his  am- 
bition, integrity,  industry  and  forcefulness  is  largely  due  its 
Dosition. 

The  strong,  fighting  blood  of  the  Irish  race  flows  in  Mr. 
Wiley's  veins,  combined  with  the  energetic  and  artistic  nature 
of  the  French.  His  father,  Alexander  Wiley,  was  of  Irish 
ancestry,  while  his  mother,  Annie  Welles  Wiley,  was  of 
French  descent.  The  names  of  both  families  are  distinguish- 
ed in  the  history  of  revolutionary  times.  It  was  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  January  5, 
1870. 

An  education  such  as  the  excellent  schools  of  the  city  of 
Baltimore  could  furnish  is  all  that  Mr.  Wiley  can  boast  of. 

887 


338  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

He  was  naturally  bright  and  an  apt  scholar,  so  that  he  quickly 
passed  through  the  lower  grades  and  entered  the  high  school, 
finishing  this  course  of  study  at  the  unusual  age  of  twelve 
years.  It  was  after  he  had  left  school,  at  the  close  of  the  term 
in  the  summer  of  1882,  that  the  lad  made  up  his  mind  to  start 
making  his  own  living.  He  was  industrious  and  was  encour- 
aged in  his  ambitions  by  his  parents,  though  necessity  did  not 
compel  him  to  seek  employment.  But  he  did  not  want  to 
spend  the  summer  in  idleness  and  sought  and  obtained  a  posi- 
tion as  boy  of  all  work  on  the  wharf  of  Brown,  Graves  &  Co., 
lumber  commission  merchants.  He  worked  hard,  not  only 
for  the  reward  that  was  held  out  to  him  by  his  employers,  but 
for  the  knowledge  he  was  storing  up  for  his  future  career. 

For  six  years  he  remained  with  Brown,  Graves  &  Co.  and 
then  became  a  local  salesman  for  Stran  Bros.,  who  at  that  time 
were  large  handlers  of  North  Carolina  pine.  Two  years  in 
this  capacity  fitted  him  for  more  responsible  duties  and,  in 
1890,  he  went  to  Norfork  to  surpervise  for  the  firm  the  manu- 
facture  of  lumber   and   to   assume   charge  of   the   southern 

interests. 

Another  two  years  saw  Mr.  Wiley  in  New  York  City  as  a 
lumber  commission  salesman.  His  ability  as  a  salesman  was 
marked,  and  with  the  happy  faculty  of  making  and  retaining 
friendships  he  soon  controlled  an  enviable  trade.  In  the  first 
year  of  his  venture  he  carried  on  a  business  aggregating  $200,- 
000.  In  1893  John  Harker,  of  Norfork,  Virginia,  became  in- 
terested with  Mr.  Wiley  in  business,  and  the  firm  of  Wiley, 
Harker  &  Co.  was  organized.  The  two  men  were  ambitious, 
and  worked  hard  for  an  increase  in  the  business.  Their  joint 
efforts  were  of  the  telling  kind,  and  in  a  few  years  the  firm 
was  handling  100,000,000  feet  of  lumber  annually. 

While  distributing  the  product  of  several  representative 
North  Carolina  houses,  Mr.  Wiley  and  his  partner,  as  well  as 
the  firm  of  Wiley,  Harker  &  Co.,  became  interested  finan- 
cially in  North  Carolina  sawmills.  Their  activity  in  the  trade 
and  the  position  they  had  gained  in  the  East  led  to  an  alliance 


ELBERT  M.  WILEY  339 

with  the  Camp  Manufacturing  Company,  of  FrankHn,  Vir- 
ginia, one  of  the  largest  producers  in  the  North  Carolina  pine 
belt.  On  May  i,  1903,  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Company 
was  instituted  and  the  entire  sales  of  the  Camp  interests,  as 
well  as  those  of  Mr.  Wiley  and  Mr.  Harker,  were  combined 
in  the  new  corporation. 

This  aggregation  of  capital  and  interests  was  but  the  be- 
ginning of  more  extensive  operations  and  greater  success  for 
Mr.  Wiley  and  the  gentlemen  with  whom  he  was  associated. 
Mr.  Wiley  was  made  president  of  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp 
Company,  which  has  become  the  foremost  North  Carolina 
pine  producing  and  handling  concern.  The  company  handles 
the  output  of  the  Camp  Manufacturing  Company's  mills  at 
Franklin,  Dewitt,  and  Arringdale,  Virginia;  of  the  Cape  Fear 
Lumber  Company  and  the  Angola  Lumber  Company  at  Wil- 
mington, North  Carolina;  of  the  Marion  County  Lumber 
Company,  Marion,  South  Carolina,  and  of  several  smaller 
mills  in  various  parts  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  The 
output  of  these  mills  aggregates  200,000,000  feet  annually. 

Mr.  Wiley  is  one  who  looks  well  into  the  future  of  the 
North  Carolina  pine  industry.  He  is  no  mean  judge  of  tim- 
ber and  in  1904  he  purchased,  with  his  associates,  a  large  tract 
of  timber  in  Marion  County,  South  CaroHna,  from  which  it  is 
estimated  300,000,000  feet  of  lumber  will  be  cut.  To  develop 
this  tract  will  require  the  building  of  logging  railroads,  saw- 
mills, dry  kilns  and  planing  mills.  Plans  for  the  operations 
have  been  prepared  and  headquarters  will  be  made  at  Marion, 
South  Carolina. 

Mr.  Wiley  is  president  of  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp 
Company,  of  New  York  City;  Cape  Fear  Lumber  Company, 
of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina;  Marion  County  Lumber 
Company,  of  Marion,  South  Carolina;  Mount  Airy  &  Eastern 
Railway  Company,  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  Dan  Valley 
Lumber  Company;  vice  president  of  the  Carolina  Timber 
Company,  of  Norfork,  Virginia,  and  of  the  Charles  T.  Stran 
Company,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  a  large  wholesale  distrib- 


340  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

uting  house.     He  is  a  director  of  the  Angola  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  Wilmington,  North  CaroHna. 

Much  interest  is  evinced  in  organization  work  by  Mr. 
Wiley,  who  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  North 
Carolina  Pine  Association,  Incorporated.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  association  and  has  given  liberally  of  his  time  and  counsel 
to  the  work  accomplished  by  the  organization  since  its  incep- 
tion. The  association  work,  in  addition  to  the  duties  imposed 
upon  him  as  president  of  the  concerns  already  enumerated, 
permits  of  only  the  minimum  amount  of  time  being  given  to 
social  functions  and  the  pleasures  of  life. 

Mr.  Wiley  is  of  the  kind  that  knows  no  tiring  and  his  ca- 
pacity for  work  is  unlimited.  He  is  full  of  energy  and  goes 
through  the  details  of  his  immense  business  with  a  dispatch 
and  directness  that  is  amazing  to  those  who  are  unacquainted 
with  his  force.  Withal,  he  has  a  smile  and  a  pleasant  word  of 
greeting  for  all  with  whom  he  may  come  in  contact,  and  his 
circle  of  friends  throughout  the  eastern  states  is  a  wide  one. 

Mr.  Wiley  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the  social  life  of 
the  metropolis  and  is  a  member  of  several  nautical  and  frater- 
nal organizations.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  yachtsman  and  as 
such  is  identified  with  the  New  York  Yacht  Club  and  the 
Columbia  Yacht  Club,  of  New  York,  and  the  Stamford  Yacht 
Club,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Athletic  Club  and  the  Republican  Club  of  New 
York.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  is  past  master 
of  York  lodge  197,  of  New  York  City,  and  is  also  a  member 
of  Palestine  Commandery  No.  18,  Knights  Templar,  and 
Mecca  Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 

In  October,  1893,  Mr.  Wiley  married  Miss  Mabel  Water- 
bury,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  Two  boys  have  been  born 
of  this  union— one  now  being  ten  years  old  and  the  other  six. 
A  beautiful  home  is  maintained  by  Mr.  Wiley,  where  he 
spends  much  of  his  time  that  is  not  occupied  by  business,  and 
entertains  his  many  friends. 


John   Har 


2JC  of  their  si  v- 

.  successes  have 
re  the  result  of 
not  withstand  c.     I: 

has  ly  for  a  hrm  la- 

o  build  a  career.  Science  is  able  to  estimate 
with  exactness  the  pressure  which  a  given  quantity  of  brick, 
stone,  wood,  or  steel  will  bring  to  bear  upon  its  foundation, 
but  in  the  rapidly  ch^n cri nor  conditions  affecting  the  modern 
businp««  TTiTn    :»  iv  >  fn  fpll  today  just  what  pressure 

^'- ^^  ,  work  of  tomorrow.    The 

'*^  in  life,  therefore, 

particular 

'ition  of 

is.     He 

will  fall 

vay  the 


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York 
John 


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retary  and 

mpany,  of  New 

who  have  achieved 


«3><R^ 


JOHN     MARKER 


John  Harker 


The  old  Biblical  saying  that  a  house  built  upon  the  sand  is 
destined  to  fall  is  exemplified  every  day  of  every  year  in  the 
commercial  records  of  every  country  in  the  world.  Many 
men  have,  apparently,  been  successful  in  business  without 
acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  special  line  of  activ- 
ity, but  such  successes  have  almost  invariably  been  short-lived. 
They  were  the  result  of  fortuitous  circumstances  and  could 
not  withstand  the  change  to  adverse  influence.  Experience 
has  abundantly  demonstrated  the  necessity  for  a  firm  founda- 
tion upon  which  to  build  a  career.  Science  is  able  to  estimate 
with  exactness  the  pressure  which  a  given  quantity  of  brick, 
stone,  wood,  or  steel  will  bring  to  bear  upon  its  foundation, 
but  in  the  rapidly  changing  conditions  affecting  the  modern 
business  man,  it  is  impossible  to  tell  today  just  what  pressure 
he  will  be  called  upon  to  resist  in  the  work  of  tomorrow.  The 
fact  confronts  the  young  man  starting  out  in  life,  therefore, 
that  if  he  expects  to  gain  and  hold  a  position  in  the  particular 
business  in  which  he  engages,  he  must  have  the  foundation  of 
a  complete  knowledge  of  that  business  in  all  its  details.  He 
may  fail,  nevertheless,  but  without  such  equipment  he  will  fall 
as  surely  as  the  house  will  fall  when  the  waves  wash  away  the 
unstable  sand  which  is  its  only  foundation. 

One  need  not  go  outside  of  lumber  manufacture  and  dis- 
tribution for  a  demonstration  of  the  above  truisms.  They 
constitute  a  commercial  law  as  unalterable  as  that  of  supply 
and  demand.  Examples  of  the  value  of  laying  a  proper  foun- 
dation for  a  business  career  are  numerous,  and  a  striking  one 
is  found  in  the  business  history  of  John  Harker,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Company,  of  New 
York  City. 

John  Harker,  like  many  other  men  who  have  achieved 

341 


342  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

marked  success  in  the  lumber  industry,  was  not  a  native  of  this 
country.  He  was  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  June  14,  1856, 
and  was  the  son  of  Richard  Harker,  a  wholesale  fruit  dealer 
of  that  city.  Young  Harker  received  his  education  at  the 
Liverpool  Collegiate  School,  graduating  when  fifteen  years  of 
age.  One  year  later,  in  1872,  he  entered  the  service  of  Robert 
Coltart  &  Co.,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  of  the  timber  bro- 
kerage concerns  of  the  great  English  seaport.  He  remained 
there  until  1886,  when  he  migrated  to  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

In  his  fourteen  years  of  service  with  Robert  Coltart  &  Co. 
Mr.  Harker  had  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  lumber  and 
lumber  methods  in  England,  but  he  realized  that  in  the  United 
States  he  would  be  confronted  by  trade  conditions  to  meet 
which  he  had  not  had  an  opportunity  thoroughly  to  prepare 
himself.  This,  however,  was  a  difficulty  which  he  lost  no  time 
in  overcoming.  He  at  once  entered  the  employ  of  Tunis, 
Eccles  &  Co.,  a  concern  then  engaged  in  purchasing  the  mill 
cuts  of  North  Carolina  pine  manufacturers  and  disposing  of  the 
same  to  the  trade.  The  firm's  principal  office  was  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  but  Mr.  Harker  was  put  in  charge  of  the  buying 
end  of  the  business  and  was  located  at  Norfolk,  where  he  had 
charge  of  the  office  and  was,  in  fact,  general  utility  man.  He 
remained  there  five  years,  gaining  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
North  Carolina  pine  manufacture.  In  1888  he  became  the 
first  secretary  of  the  original  North  Carolina  Pine  Lumber 
Company  (now  the  North  Carolina  Pine  Association) .  He 
did  not  immediately  sever  his  connection  with  Tunis,  Eccles 
&  Co.,  but  as  his  association  work  became  more  arduous  he 
gradually  withdrew  from  that  concern  until  he  devoted  his 
entire  time  to  the  association. 

In  1893  ^r-  Harker  associated  himself  with  E.  M.Wiley, 
of  New  York  City,  and  they  established  the  firm  of  Wiley, 
Harker  &  Co.  They  engaged  in  the  business  of  selling  lum- 
ber on  commission.  The  firm  was  successful  from  the  start 
and  in  1902  Wiley,  Harker  &  Co.  were  handling  close  to 
100,000,000  feet  of  North  Carolina  pine  annually. 


JOHN  HARKER  343 

The  success  of  their  business  had  been  so  marked  and  the 
reputation  of  the  gentlemen  engaged  in  it  for  business  sagacity 
was  so  well  established  that,  early  in  1903,  the  Camp  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  Franklin,  Virginia,  a  heavy  manufac- 
turer of  North  Carolina  pine,  began  negotiations  looking  to 
an  alliance,  and  on  May  i  of  that  year  an  organization  was 
effected  called  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Company,  which 
took  over  the  selling  end  of  the  Camp  interests. 

The  merging  of  the  interests  of  these  two  concerns  gave 
the  new  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Company  control  of  the  out- 
put of  the  Carolina  Manufacturing  Company,  at  Franklin, 
DeWitt,  Norfolk  and  Beverly,  Virginia ;  the  Cape  Fear  Lum- 
ber Company  and  the  Angola  Lumber  Company,  at  Wilming- 
ton, and  several  other  North  Carolina  pine  manufacturing 
plants  in  various  parts  of  the  two  states  mentioned.  The  new 
company  retained  the  interests  it  controlled  when  operating 
as  Wiley,  Harker  &  Co.,  and,  after  the  organization  of  May  i, 
1903,  the  total  output  of  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Com- 
pany aggregated  200,000,000  feet  annually.  Since  that  date 
this  business  has  been  increasing  and  the  company  is  now  the 
foremost  North  Carolina  pine  handling  institution  in  the  world. 
Its  interests  have  extended  rapidly  and  include  an  immense 
area  of  North  Carolina  pine  stumpage. 

Mr.  Harker  is  treasurer  of  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp 
Company,  has  general  supervision  over  the  financial  affairs  of 
that  great  concern  and  is,  as  well,  a  prominent  figure  in  the  dic- 
tation of  thecompany's  operations.  His  business  is  not  confined 
to  this  organization,  however,  as  he  is  president  of  the  Angola 
Lumber  Company,  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina;  president 
of  the  Charles  T.  Stran  Company,  a  North  Carolina  pine  whole- 
saling corporation,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland;  president  of  the 
Carolina  Timber  Company,  which  is  a  timber  holding  com- 
pany, of  Norfolk,  and  treasurer  of  the  Cape  Fear  Lumber 
Company,  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  which  also  is  allied 
to  the  Wiley,  Harker  &  Camp  Company  and  markets  its  out- 
put through  that  organization. 


344  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

From  the  foregoing  outline  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Har- 
ker's  rise  to  success  has  been  steady  and  has  been  the  result 
of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  departments  of  the  North 
Carolina  pine  business,  which  has  come  from  a  close  and  con- 
scientious study  since  boyhood.  He  made  himself  thoroughly 
conversant  with  operations  in  the  woods  and  at  the  mill.  As 
secretary  and  manager  of  the  North  Carolina  Pine  Association — 
or  its  predecessor^he  became  familiar  with  the  statistics  of  the 
North  Carolina  pine  business  and  with  the  methods  employed 
by  the  men  who  had  been  most  successful  in  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  this  wood.  Later,  he  went  to  New  York  and  there 
neglected  no  details  which  would  help  him  solve  the  problem 
of  how  to  sell  a  great  quantity  of  North  Carolina  pine  in  a 
short  space  of  time  and  at  a  profit.  In  connection  with  his 
earlier  work  in  the  lumber  field  he  acted  as  correspondent  for 
The  Timberman  and  the  Northwestern  Lumberman^  which,  later, 
were  merged  into  the  American  Lumberman. 

Mr.  Harker  is  a  man  of  penetrating  mind  and  careful  judg- 
ment, and  is  a  painstaking  student.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  his  integrity  is  unquestioned  by  those  with  whom  his  busi- 
ness brings  him  into  contact.  He  is  a  big,  broad-shouldered, 
strong  man,  with  an  erect  carriage,  whose  manner  is  hearty 
and  cordial,  and  who  has  made  a  host  of  friends  within  and 
without  the  circle  of  his  business  acquaintance. 

John  Harker  married  Miss  Jane  Hamilton  Gunson,  of 
Liverpool,  England,  in  1881,  a  boy  and  a  girl  being  the  result 
of  this  union.  Mrs.  Harker  died  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in 
1887.  In  1902  Mr.  Harker  married  Miss  Mary  J.  Morgan, 
of  Norfolk.  Their  family  consists  of  four  children — two  boys 
and  two  girls.  Mr.  Harker  is  domestic  in  his  tastes,  and 
although  he  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  a  member 
of  the  New  York  Athletic  Club,  the  greater  portion  of  time 
he  can  spare  from  his  extensive  business  interests  is  spent  with 
his  family. 


Comp: 
nity  t 


y  be  said  that  a  man  has  d^ 
iy  when  he  holds  the  respect  and  aflec- 
pie  of  the  vi  he  lives  ;  when  his 

e  IS  sought  ?:  i,  and  when  he 

has  hones'  nargcd  a  pubhc  trust.     Such  is 

the  record  of  David  H.  Day,  of  Glen  Haven,  Michigan,  a  man 
who  represents  a  much  needed  type  of  citizen  and  one  who 
stands  foremost  among  the  hardwood  manufacturers  of  his 
State.  He  may  be  characterized  as  a  man  of  strong  personal- 
ity with  unus  v,  and  for  his  success  in  business 

entire  credit.     Although  he  has 

to  the  details  of  his  business,  he 

v  to  assist  in  the  betterment  of 

^nd   Leelanau 


he  ef 


"^  Vork, 

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thc 

in  of 

^Uii  was 

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ity  and 

o  into  Dusiness 

vV  isconsin,  where 

^  States  Exprcsi 


VAO    Vl^k^3H^ 


VJ  I  V 


DAVID    HENRY     DAV 


David  H.  Day 


Comparatively  few  men  have  the  good  fortune  or  oppor- 
tunity to  engage  in  business  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large  to 
bring  them  into  prominence  with  their  fellow  operators.  It 
necessarily  is  true  that  a  few  must  lead  and  the  great  majority 
must  follow.  It  is  still  more  rare  when  opportunities  present 
themselves  for  a  man  to  distinguish  himself  in  both  public  and 
private  life,  and  it  may  truly  be  said  that  a  man  has  distin- 
guished himself  publicly  when  he  holds  the  respect  and  affec- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  vicinity  where  he  lives ;  when  his 
advice  is  sought  and  his  opinion  is  recognized,  and  when  he 
has  honestly  and  faithfully  discharged  a  public  trust.  Such  is 
the  record  of  David  H.  Day,  of  Glen  Haven,  Michigan,  a  man 
who  represents  a  much  needed  type  of  citizen  and  one  who 
stands  foremost  among  the  hardwood  manufacturers  of  his 
State.  He  may  be  characterized  as  a  man  of  strong  personal- 
ity with  unusual  executive  ability,  and  for  his  success  in  business 
he  is  personally  entitled  to  the  entire  credit.  Although  he  has 
necessarily  given  much  time  to  the  details  of  his  business,  he 
has  never  evaded  an  opportunity  to  assist  in  the  betterment  of 
public  interests,  particularly  of  Glen  Haven  and  Leelanau 
County. 

David  Henry  Day  was  born  at  Ogdensburg,  New  York, 
July  lo,  1854.  His  parents  were  David  Day  and  Jean  (Hous- 
ton) Day,  the  former  a  native  of  the  Empire  State  and  the 
latter  of  Irish  birth,  her  father  having  been  a  second  cousin  of 
the  noted  Sam  Houston.  When  old  enough  their  son  was 
entered  in  the  public  school  at  Ogdensburg  and  there  he  ac- 
quired his  education.  When  he  arrived  at  his  majority  and 
began  looking  around  for  an  opportunity  to  go  into  business 
he  went  West  and  settled  at  Milton  Junction,  Wisconsin,  where 

he  entered  the  office  of  the  American  and  United  States  Express 

345 


346  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

companies,  remaining  in  their  employ  for  three  years.  His 
services  were  so  efficient  and  he  was  such  a  thoroughly  satis- 
factory employee  that  he  was  sent  to  Milwaukee  as  cashier  for 
the  American  Express  Company.  While  his  position  admitted 
him  to  a  broader  field,  an  opportunity  soon  arose  to  enter  a 
line  of  business  to  which  he  believed  he  was  better  suited,  and 
he  accepted  the  position  of  passenger  agent  at  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan, for  the  Northern  Transportation  Company.  He  re- 
mained in  Detroit  for  about  four  years  when  he  resigned  his 
position  and  moved  to  Glen  Haven,  Michigan,  where  he  since 
has  resided. 

The  first  position  held  by  Mr.  Day  in  that  city  was  a  com- 
paratively humble  one,  that  of  agent  of  the  Northern  Transpor- 
tation Company  which  then  owned  a  line  of  steamships  oper- 
ating between  Ogdensburg  and  Chicago.  Within  a  short  time 
he  succeeded  in  interesting  Glen  Haven  capital  and  formed  the 
firm  of  D.  H.  Day  &  Co.,  which  purchased  the  business  of  the 
Northern  Transportation  Company  at  Glen  Haven,  and  en- 
gaged in  lumbering  and  general  merchandising.  The  firm  also 
operated  the  Northern  Michigan  line  between  Chicago  and 
Mackinac  Island.  After  a  time  the  Northern  Michigan  line 
sold  its  vessels  and,  the  firm  of  D.  H.  Day  &  Co.  having  been 
dissolved,  Mr.  Day  entered  the  employ  of  Hannah,  Lay  &  Co., 
at  Traverse  City,  taking  charge  of  the  firm's  lumber  business. 
Not  long  afterward  Hannah,  Lay  &  Co.  discontinued  the  lum- 
ber department  of  their  business  and  Mr.  Day  returned  to 
Glen  Haven  and  purchased  their  plant  at  that  place,  which  he 
is  still  operating.  From  this  point  dated  Mr.  Day's  success- 
ful career  of  thirty  years  as  a  hardwood  producer.  The  capital 
necessary  for  his  entrance  into  the  hardwood  field  was  contrib- 
uted largely  by  Perry  Hannah,  of  Hannah,  Lay  &  Co.,  to 
v/hom  Mr.  Day  often  refers  as  one  of  the  few  genuine  friends 
of  a  lifetime.  The  business  was  so  conducted,  however,  that 
the  profits  which  accumulated  were  soon  sufficient  to  finance 
the  enterprise  without  outside  assistance  and,  knowing  well 
the  limit  of  his  resources  at  the  outset,  Mr.  Day  was  satisfied 


DAVID  H.  DAY  347 

to  do  what  business  he  could  safely  handle.  The  result  was  a 
steady  and  healthy  growth  which  has  continued  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time. 

The  plant  which  he  owns  and  operates,  while  not  the 
largest,  is  one  of  the  most  modern  and  best  equipped  in 
Michigan.  It  has  a  capacity  of  20,000  feet  of  hardwood  and 
from  30,000  to  35,000  feet  of  hemlock  a  day.  The  mill,  which 
is  located  on  Glen  Lake,  is  connected  with  a  pier  on  Lake 
Michigan  by  a  tramway  two  and  one-fourth  miles  long  and 
lumber  is  shipped  to  the  city  markets  by  vessels.  A  tug  called 
Alice  J.  Day  tows  the  logs  to  the  mill,  most  of  them  coming 
from  Mr.  Day's  own  timber  of  which  he  has  a  supply  that  will 
keep  his  mill  running  for  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years.  In 
addition,  some  logs  are  purchased  from  farmers  in  the  vicinity 
of  Glen  Lake.  The  timber  owned  by  Mr.  Day  in  the  vicinity 
of  Glen  Lake  covers  a  tract  of  about  5,000  acres  and  the  greater 
portion  of  it  is  hardwood. 

In  addition  to  the  lumbering  operations  which  he  has  car- 
ried on  for  so  many  years  and  which  have  established  him  as 
one  of  the  oldest  hardwood  manufacturers  of  Michigan,  Mr. 
Day  has  extensive  interests  in  other  lines.  He  owns  and  oper- 
ates a  large  general  store  at  Glen  Haven  where  he  carries  a 
high  grade  and  well  assorted  stock  of  merchandise,  catering  to 
the  trade  of  both  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country.  He  is 
also  the  owner  of  a  400-acre  farm  located  near  Glen  Haven, 
which  he  devotes  to  the  cultivation  of  fine  fruits.  He  has  there 
an  orchard  of  more  than  3,000  trees  in  fine  bearing  condition, 
which  has  brought  in  very  substantial  returns  during  the  last 
few  years.  He  is  also  interested  in  stock  raising  and  is  proud 
of  his  fine  Holstein  cattle. 

In  the  affairs  of  Glen  Haven  Mr.  Day  has  for  years  taken 
a  prominent  part.  He  has  been  honored  with  the  position  of 
postmaster  of  Glen  Haven  and  for  many  years  has  been  over- 
seer of  highways.  In  any  undertaking  for  the  benefit  of  his 
city  Mr.  Day  has  been  foremost  and  among  the  enterprises  in 
which  he  was  prominent  may  be  mentioned  the  submarine 


348  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

cable  from  Glen  Haven  to  South  Manitou  Island  by  way  of 
Sleeping  Bear  life  saving  station.  This  cable  connects  Glen 
Haven  with  the  life  saving  station  on  South  Manitou  Island 
where  the  display  of  signals  is  made  by  the  United  States 
government. 

Mr.  Day  married  Miss  Eva  E.  Farrant,  a  native  of  Casson 
Township,  near  Glen  Haven,  December  20,  1889.  Miss 
Farrant  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Ezilda  Farrant.  Of 
the  six  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Day,  five  are  living — 
Alice  Jean,  Eva  Houston,  Margaret  Thompson,  David  Henry, 
Junior,  and  Mary  Estelle.  A  son  who  died  was  named  Henry 
Houston  Day. 

Although  a  busy  man  Mr.  Day  spends  a  liberal  share  of  his 
time  with  his  wife  and  children  and  is  very  much  interested  in 
the  education  of  his  son  and  daughters.  It  is  his  purpose  that 
they  shall  be  educated  by  tutors  in  the  home,  where  he  can 
constantly  look  after  their  welfare.  Being  well  supplied  with 
this  world's  goods  Mr.  Day  does  not  intend  that  his  children 
shall  become  purse  proud  and  he,  therefore,  has  taught  his  son 
to  earn  his  spending  money,  while  his  daughters  are  learning 
to  do  housework. 

Mr.  Day's  favorite  recreation  is  outdoor  sports  and  he  is  a 
great  devotee  of  baseball.  He  owns  a  tract  of  1,200  acres  of 
fine  second  growth  timber  which  furnishes  him  with  one  of 
his  favorite  forms  of  recreation  in  the  way  of  hunting.  He  is 
prominent  in  Masonry,  having  received  the  thirty-second  de- 
gree of  the  Scottish  Rite  and  is  also  a  Shriner.  He  is  one  of 
the  oldest  members  of  the  Detroit  Light  Infantry.  In  politics 
he  is  a  Republican  but  his  interest  in  political  affairs  is  not 
more  than  that  of  the  average  citizen.  A  firm  believer  in 
practical  forestry,  he  was  one  of  the  first  exponents  of  the 
theory  that  forestry  should  be  taught  as  a  science ;  more  than 
this,  he  is  a  recognized  authority  on  the  subject  and  has 
been  consulted  in  several  instances  by  the  Government  Forest 
Service. 


Jo' 


To  n*"  -v 


iiuu 

ncr 

ill    UlC  Al- 

Uic  savvmiii.     riis  lacner  and  his 

e  iuinDcrmen  of  the  pioneer  type,  and  the  son 

son  nas  added  to  the  luster  of  their  name.     What  he 

has  accomplished  in  building  up  a  concern  whose  operations 

extend  over  a  large  portion  of  the  East  is  worth  chronicling. 

Fw'T  more  than  a  century  the  family  name  of  Rumbarger 

d  in  the  annals  of  T  a,  the  early  settlers 

;er,  the  g;rand- 

is 

the 

In- 

it 


It 

H  ^  t->  >"•  ^^  '=■'■"'  ^  '  '     ^  '  - 


JOHN    JAOOB     RUMBARQER 


John  J.  Rumbarger 


To  persevere  in  a  course  that  is  known  to  be  right,  to  show 
sympathy  with  men  and  their  poHcies  and  to  adhere  to  a  high 
standard  of  morals  in  commercial  and  social  life  are  steps  that 
ultimately  lead  to  the  goal  of  sound  business  success  and  of 
respected  citizenship.  Philadelphia  has  a  citizen  of  this  cali- 
ber in  John  Jacob  Rumbarger,  one  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion who  has  qualified  to  bear  the  family  name,  and  one  promi- 
nent in  the  lumber  industry. 

It  may  be  said  that  Mr.  Rumbarger  was  reared  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  woods  and  the  sawmill.  His  father  and  his 
grandfather  were  lumbermen  of  the  pioneer  type,  and  the  son 
and  grandson  has  added  to  the  luster  of  their  name.  What  he 
has  accomplished  in  building  up  a  concern  whose  operations 
extend  over  a  large  portion  of  the  East  is  worth  chronicling. 

For  more  than  a  century  the  family  name  of  Rumbarger 
has  figured  in  the  annals  of  Pennsylvania,  the  early  settlers 
having  come  from  Germany.  John  Rumbarger,  the  grand- 
father of  John  J.  Rumbarger,  rafted  logs  in  the  western  streams 
when  the  country  was  young,  as  did  Jacob  L.  Rumbarger,  the 
father,  before  he  migrated  to  Kingston,  Decatur  County,  In- 
diana. It  was  in  this  village  that  John  Jacob  Rumbarger  was 
born,  October  19,  1865.  His  mother  was  Margaret  A.  Rum- 
barger, nee  Jones.  The  head  of  the  family  had  snaked  logs 
until  he  had  accumulated  enough  to  invest  in  a  small  sawmill 
and  begin  manufacturing  for  himself.  The  family  moved  from 
Kingston  to  Greensburg  and  subsequently  to  Beanblossom 
Township,  Monroe  County,  Indiana,  where  a  home  was  built. 
The  son,  John  J.,  the  third  boy  in  the  family,  was  brought 
up  in  all  strictness  by  his  God-fearing  and  loving  parents.  It 
was  a  backwoods  country,  and  even  as  a  youth  he  learned  much 
of  the  lore  of  the  woodsman.     By  day  he  attended  the  sessions 


349 


350  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

of  the  district  school,  necessitating  a  six-mile  walk  to  and  from 
his  home,  and  morning  and  evening  he  helped  with  the  chores 
that  fell  to  his  lot  about  the  farm.  When  he  was  fifteen  years 
old  the  family  again  moved,  this  time  to  Gosport,  Owen  County, 
Indiana,  where  a  sawmill  was  built  by  the  senior  Rumbarger. 
Young  Rumbarger  continued  his  studies  in  the  village  school 
and,  when  vacation  time  came,  worked  about  the  mill  handling 
slabs  and  wheeling  sawdust  like  any  laborer.  Before  he  grad- 
uated from  the  Gosport  high  school,  in  1883,  he  was  familiar 
with  the  multitudinous  details  of  manufacturing  lumber,  a  part 
of  his  education  which  he  never  forgot.  He  entered  DePauw 
University,  at  Greencastle,  Indiana,  but  his  college  career  was 
cut  short  in  his  junior  year  by  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever. 

While  he  was  in  college  the  young  man's  parents  had  gone 
to  Dobbin,  Grant  County,  West  Virginia,  a  town  in  name  only, 
as  but  three  houses  and  a  water  tank  marked  the  end  of  a  rail- 
road. The  father  organized  the  J.  L.  Rumbarger  Company, 
a  sawmill  was  built  and  operations  were  started.  The  enter- 
prise was  managed  by  the  father  and  his  three  sons — Frank  T., 
Robert  R.  and  John  J.  Rumbarger.  The  last  named  had  a 
varied  experience  about  the  plant  between  running  the  lath 
mill  and  planing  mill,  filing  saws  and  doing  the  other  odd 
labors  of  a  jack  of  all  trades  as  occasion  arose.  The  year  1887 
was  spent  by  him  in  managing  the  general  store  of  the  com- 
pany operated  in  connection  with  the  mill. 

Another  year  saw  John  Rumbarger  in  the  role  of  traveling 
salesman  for  the  company,  whose  business  was  being  largely 
extended.  He  put  in  his  time  journeying  about  the  eastern 
section  of  the  country  from  St.  Louis  east  and  north  to  Port- 
land, Maine,  selling  the  hardwoods,  spruce,  hemlock  and 
cherry  lumber  of  the  company.  For  seven  years  he  looked 
after  the  trade,  becoming  in  that  time  a  decidedly  clever  and 
successful  salesman  and  building  up  a  line  of  customers  that 
augured  well  for  his  future  success.  Then  it  was  decided  to 
open  a  selling  office  in  Philadelphia  and  the  chief  salesman  of 
the  company  was  selected  to  take  charge. 


JOHN  J.  RUMBARGER  351 

In  1897  the  sawmill  of  the  J.  L.  Rumbarger  Company  was 
sold,  and  later  the  Rumbarger  Lumber  Company  was  organ- 
ized and  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a  whole- 
sale business.  John  Rumbarger  was  made  treasurer  of  the 
company,  the  other  officers  being  Jacob  L.  Rumbarger,  presi- 
dent; Frank  T.  Rumbarger,  vice  president,  and  Robert  R. 
Rumbarger,  secretary.  The  name  of  Rumbarger  was  already 
well  known  to  the  trade  and  the  business  of  the  concern  pros- 
pered accordingly. 

With  the  growth  of  the  business  it  soon  became  necessary 
to  have  an  independent  supply  of  lumber  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  buyers  and,  in  1900,  the  plant  of  the  Coketon  Lumber 
Company,  at  Coketon,  West  Virginia,  was  purchased  and  op- 
erations there  were  continued.  This  mill  is  still  running  and 
recent  acquisitions  of  timber  in  Randolph  County  give  the 
company  an  aggregate  of  9,000  acres.  Besides  the  main  plant 
at  Fishinghawk,  where  a  modern  band  mill  with  a  band  resaw 
and  planing  mill  is  operated,  four  portable  mills  are  running 
on  the  tract. 

Mr.  Rumbarger,  with  the  progressive  spirit  of  youth,  not 
only  devotes  much  of  his  time  to  the  management  of  the 
affairs  at  the  main  office  in  Philadelphia,  but  makes  frequent 
trips  to  keep  himself  in  touch  with  the  other  interests  of  the 
company  farther  south.  One  of  these  interests  is  a  mill  at 
Skidmore  Crossing,  Webster  County,  West  Virginia,  where 
poplar  and  hardwoods  are  manufactured.  Another  interest  is 
that  of  the  Snow-Bird  Lumber  Company,  which  has  22,000 
acres  of  timber  land,  thickly  covered  with  hardwoods  and 
hemlock,  in  Graham  County,  North  Carolina.  While  the  ag- 
gregate cut  of  these  mills  is  large,  it  does  not  represent  the 
amount  of  lumber  marketed  by  the  company.  A  force  of 
buyers  and  inspectors  is  kept  in  the  field  continuously,  pur- 
chasing and  shipping  stocks  of  lumber  from  small  manufac- 
turers, several  million  feet  being  distributed  in  this  way  every 
year. 

Force  and  character  are  written  in  every  line  of  Mr.  Rum- 


352  AMERICAN   LUMBERMEN 

barger's  face.  He  is  strongly  insistent  upon  business  integrity 
in  each  deal,  and  cherishes  the  good  name  which  he  won 
for  himself  in  his  days  on  the  road.  With  the  confidence  and 
support  given  him  by  his  father  and  brothers  he  has  kept  forg- 
ing ahead  year  by  year  until  today  the  company  holds  an  im- 
portant position  in  the  distribution  of  lumber  in  the  East. 
That  he  is  possessed  of  the  Dutch  persistence  of  his  forefath- 
ers is  shown  by  his  work  for  the  Concatenated  Order  of  Hoo- 
Hoo.  After  interest  in  the  organization  had  been  dormant  in 
the  Keystone  and  adjacent  states  for  years  he  was  appointed 
vicegerent  snark  for  the  eastern  district  of  Pennsylvania  and 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months  instilled  new  life  into  the  order. 

Though  a  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Pythian,  Mr.  Rum- 
barger  is  more  wrapped  up  in  his  home  life  than  in  that  of  the 
secret  societies.  Sixteen  years  ago  he  joined  Potomac  Lodge, 
No.  io8,  L  O.  O.  F.,  at  Dobbin,  West  Virginia.  He  is  a 
member  of  Shekinah  Lodge,  No.  246,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  a 
Knight  of  Pythias.  He  is  a  fraternity  man,  also,  having  been 
initiated  in  the  Lamda  Chapter,  Phi  Gamma  Delta,  during  his 
college  days. 

Through  two  marriages  Mr.  Rumbarger  has  five  children. 
His  first  wife  was  Mattie  A.  Williard,  of  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio, 
whom  he  married  in  1888  and  to  whom  two  sons  were  born — 
John  and  Bradley.  The  wife  died  in  1894.  Mr.  Rumbarger 
three  years  later  wedded  Virginia  A.  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  three  children  have  been  born  to  the  couple — Dorothy, 
Joseph  and  Virginia  Rose. 


Frank  K 


In  the  Si 
in  I 


VA.VWV-V'KJ 


>y  niembers  of  the  L 

.ccnth    Century    and    the     name    was 

.  ^^ ;d  between  thr  vrar?  To9r  ind  '^"lo  as  many  as 

variations  ^*n  its  ( ^    i    .• ,  .inge  in 

pronunciation  i,.....-g  been  found  by  the  genealogists. 

John   Whiting,   the  head  of  a   particular   branch   of   the 

family,  was  born  in  Boston,  England,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 

Sixteenth  Century.     He  became  a  membtr  of  the  Common 

Council  of  Boston,  in  1590,  its  mayor  in  1600  and  vice  admiral 

'  ^  "     oinshirc  in  1602.     Samuel  Wh' "^    the  son  of  John 

'    '      *'     •  •  Of  the  tenth 

'    eage  is 

la, 

)p  (Rice) 

13,  1864. 

es 

•I  of 

V.     He  was  ct  .    .  cd 

^  .  * 

riess   on  the    Pine    River   at 

•  CT  he  owned  was  cut  out,   he 

lich  is  in  existence  today. 

iy  of  eleven  children.     Like 

that  of  s  secured  in  the  common 

schools  ot  •  om  the  high  school. 

The  first  :  was  in  the  mercan- 

tile business  c  ^  „  &  Son,  the  firm 

OHITIMVy     QUO  fJ^  A  F1     X  M  A  5=1  "=? 


r 


FRANK     RAYMOND     \A/HITINC3 


Frank  R.  Whiting 


In  the  Sixteenth  Century  there  lived,  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
in  Lincolnshire,  England,  a  family  of  Whitings.  This  city 
had  been  the  principal  place  of  residence  of  the  Whiting 
ancestors  since  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III,  and 
the  home  of  many  of  the  family  who  came  to  America. 
Records  furnish  the  names  of  many  members  of  the  family 
antedating  the  Fourteenth  Century  and  the  name  was 
variously  spelled  between  the  years  1085  and  1630,  as  many  as 
sixteen  variations  in  its  orthography  without  any  change  in 
pronunciation  having  been  found  by  the  genealogists. 

John  Whiting,  the  head  of  a  particular  branch  of  the 
family,  was  born  in  Boston,  England,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Common 
Council  of  Boston,  in  1590,  its  mayor  in  1600  and  vice  admiral 
of  Lincolnshire  in  1602.  Samuel  Whiting,  the  son  of  John 
Whiting,  joined  the  Puritan  colony  in  America.  Of  the  tenth 
generation,  in  America,  of  this  family  of  ancient  lineage  is 
Frank  Raymond  Whiting,  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 

He  is  the  son  of  Henry  Whiting  and  Mary  Troop  (Rice) 
Whiting  and  was  born  at  St.  Clair,  Michigan,  June  13,  1864. 
The  senior  Whiting  was  a  graduate  of  the  United  States 
military  academy  and  during  the  Civil  War  was  colonel  of 
the  Second  Vermont  Regiment  of  Infantry.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  '50's  in  the  lumber  business  on  the  Pine  River  at 
St.  Clair,  and,  when  the  timber  he  owned  was  cut  out,  he 
established  a  mercantile  business  which  is  in  existence  today. 
Frank  Whiting  was  one  of  a  family  of  eleven  children.  Like 
that  of  the  others,  his  education  was  secured  in  the  common 
schools  of  St.  Clair  and  he  graduated  from  the  high  school. 

The  first  employment  of  Mr.  Whiting  was  in  the  mercan- 
tile business  conducted  by  Henry  Whiting  &  Son,  the  firm 

353 


354  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

being  composed  of  his  father  and  an  older  brother.  This  was 
in  1882,  and  subsequently  he  was  given  a  partnership  interest 
in  the  business.  He  had  the  opportunity  of  studying  the 
lumber  business  as  then  carried  on  in  Michigan  and  he  deter- 
mined to  engage  in  this  line  himself.  Going  to  Hickory, 
Catawba  County,  North  Carolina,  he  organized,  with  H.  C. 
Park,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  and  W.  E.  Burtless,  of  St.  Clair, 
Michigan,  the  Catawba  Lumber  Company,  in  1890.  The 
company  carried  on  a  manufacturing  business  in  a  limited 
way  and  was  dissolved  in  1895. 

The  next  venture  of  Mr.  Whiting  in  the  lumber  business 
was  in  the  organization,  with  his  brother,  William  S.  Whiting, 
of  the  Whiting  Lumber  Company,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ducting a  wholesale  business.  An  office  was  opened  in  the 
Girard  Building,  Philadelphia,  and  a  specialty  made  of  han- 
dling hardwoods  and  white  pine.  Both  brothers  were  ener- 
getic and  capable  and  a  satisfactory  trade  was  quickly  built  up. 
Because  of  the  operations  carried  on  by  them  in  North 
Carolina,  the  Whitings  were  not  unknown  to  the  lumbermen 
of  the  Quaker  City.  The  growth  of  the  wholesale  business 
demanded  the  company's  getting  independent  lines  of  supply, 
and,  in  the  spring  of  1897,  ^^-  Whiting  and  his  brother 
formed  the  Whiting  Lumber  Co.,  a  partnership,  and  began  a 
manufacturing  business  at  Elizabethton,  Tennessee.  William 
S.  Whiting  took  charge  of  the  mill  business,  while  Frank  R. 
Whiting  remained  in  active  control  of  the  wholesale  office. 
He  closed  the  wholesale  office  in  1900  and  joined  in  the 
management  of  the  operations  at  Elizabethton. 

In  August,  1903,  Mr.  Whiting  went  to  Philadelphia  again, 
where,  with  Joseph  W.  Janney,  a  wholesale  yard  lumberman, 
he  organized  the  Janney-Whiting  Lumber  Company.  Mr. 
Janney  is  president  and  treasurer  of  the  company  and  Mr. 
Whiting  is  secretary.  A  wholesale  business  is  carried  on,  a 
specialty  being  made  of  hardwoods  and  white  pine,  the  con- 
suming trade  of  the  Quaker  City  and  surrounding  territory 
demanding  much  of  this  lumber.     The  office  of  the  company 


FRANK  R.  WHITING  355 

is  located  at  1151  Beach  Street,  Pier  52  North,  along  the 
Delaware  River  front.  On  the  wharf  is  carried  in  stock  an 
ample  assortment  of  hardwoods  for  the  trade,  and  the  best 
facilities  are  at  hand  for  shipping  by  either  water  or  rail.  In 
the  last  two  years  the  volume  of  business  transacted  by  the 
company  has  been  largely  increased  through  the  efforts  made 
by  Mr.  Whiting  in  covering  the  trade  of  the  territory. 

Considerable  of  the  stock  handled  by  the  Janney- Whiting 
Lumber  Company  comes  from  the  mill  of  the  Whiting  Manu- 
facturing Company,  at  Abingdon,  Virginia,  of  which  Mr. 
Whiting  is  president  and  W.  S.  Whiting,  secretary,  treasurer 
and  general  manager. 

The  Whiting  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized  in 
April,  1904,  by  Mr.  Whiting  and  his  brother,  following  the 
reorganization  of  the  former  Whiting  concern  as  the  Bradley 
Lumber  Company.  A  tract  of  standing  timber  in  Carter  and 
Johnson  counties,  Tennessee,  south  of  Abingdon  and  across 
the  State  line,  was  secured  upon  which  to  operate.  On  this 
tract  is  estimated  to  be  75,000,000  feet  of  hardwoods,  white 
pine  and  hemlock.  Another  small  tract  was  acquired  in  Mit- 
chell County,  North  Carolina,  which  contains  oak,  ash  and 
poplar.  Abingdon  was  selected  as  the  site  for  the  mill  be- 
cause of  the  unusual  shipping  facilities  afforded  by  the  rail- 
roads and  their  connecting  lines.  The  plant  itself  is  located 
directly  on  the  Virginia-Carolina  Railway,  over  which  ship- 
ments can  be  made  to  all  points  of  the  compass  through 
connections  with  the  Southern  Railway,  the  Norfolk  & 
Western  and  the  Virginia  &  Southwestern  roads.  The  mill  is 
of  a  single  band  type  and  was  formerly  operated  at  Elizabeth- 
ton.  The  sawmill  has  a  capacity  of  50,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day, 
and  the  plant  includes  a  thoroughly  equipped  planing  mill 

The  entire  product  of  the  Whiting  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany is  handled  by  the  Janney- Whiting  Lumber  Company,  of 
Philadelphia.  So  great  has  been  the  demand  for  hardwood 
lumber  throughout  the  East  for  more  than  a  year  that  the 
capacities  of  the  Whiting  Manufacturing  Company  and  the 


356  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Janney- Whiting  Lumber  Company  have  been  taxed  to  the 
utmost.  Mr.  Whiting  has  been  always  a  close  student  of 
market  conditions  and  is  most  successful  in  taking  advantage 
of  them.  Besides  the  stock  of  the  Abingdon'mill  Mr.  Whiting 
has  bought  additional  stock  of  other  hardv^ood  plants  in  order 
to  meet  the  heavy  demands  of  the  trade  to  which  he  caters. 

Another  lumber  enterprise  in  which  Mr.  Whiting  is  inter- 
ested is  the  Buchanan  Lumber  Company,  of  Judson,  North 
Carolina.  The  company  operates  at  this  point  a  band  mill 
with  a  capacity  of  30,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day.  The  mill  is 
cutting  on  timber  owned  by  the  company,  located  in  Swain 
and  Graham  counties,  North  Carohna,  on  the  Asheville  and 
Murphy  branch  of  the  Southern  Railway.  This  tract  of  tim- 
ber consists  of  poplar,  oak  and  chestnut  and  is  estimated  to 
contain  60,000,000  feet. 

Mr.  Whiting  married  Miss  Abbie  Alice  Irwin,  at  the  home 
of  the  bride  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  September  15,  1887. 
One  son— Frank  Rice  Whiting— who  is  now  in  his  fourteenth 
year,  has  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whiting.  The  couple 
resides  in  Philadelphia.  Because  of  his  interests  in  Virginia 
and  the  necessity  for  making  frequent  trips  to  other  cities, 
Mr.  Whiting  has  been  satisfied  to  spend  what  leisure  time  he 
may  have  with  his  family  and  has  never  become  identified  with 
any  social  or  fraternal  organizations.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics,  but  his  activities  as  a  business  man  have  precluded  the 
possibitity  of  his  interesting  himself  in  affairs  political. 


T    ? 


acc  muse  Dc  piacca 
s,  iiiG  d.a  i  '  dc  aid  in  c 

>   »s  '  i   vv  :,  of  Abingdon, 

he  i-  '  at  manhood,  in 

trie  vN  >  oi  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  and  Virginia 

and  has  gained  much  of  the  strength  of  character  of  the 
pioneer.  But  he  is  not  a  rough,  unlettered  woodsman  or  mill 
operator,  for  he  is  a  college  man  and  has  the  polish  of  the 
f  n  resident.     He  v  and  reared  in  a  lumber 

igan,  but  his  indus- 

of  lumber 

.h  hai 

:  efforts, 

Iv  name. 

*!and. 


.  ,cw 

-.i.v-.  »crvcd 

.   in  the  Civil 

i^w  vo  Mary  Troop 

e  began  lumbering 

oii  He  owned  cr- 

sidc  if  had  been  « 

out  aiiu  mercantile  business 

OMITIHNA/    TT008     MAIJJINA/ 


NA/ILl-IAM    SCOTT    NA/HITINQ 


William  S.  Whiting 


A  life  spent  on  the  wide  plains  of  the  West  gives  a  man  a 
certain  independence,  strength  and  resourcefulness  that  are 
unknown  to  the  urban  dweller.  The  same  traits  are  devel- 
oped to  a  large  degree  in  a  man  who  has  spent  many  years  in 
the  forests  or  in  sawmills  in  the  mountains  of  the  South,  re- 
moved somewhat  from  the  busier  marts  of  commerce.  In  a 
backwoods  district  greater  reliance  must  be  placed  in  one's 
own  powers,  and  an  independence  of  outside  aid  in  emergen- 
cies is  developed.  William  Scott  Whiting,  of  Abingdon, 
Virginia,  has  put  in  his  years,  since  he  arrived  at  manhood,  in 
the  wilderness  of  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  and  Virginia 
and  has  gained  much  of  the  strength  of  character  of  the 
pioneer.  But  he  is  not  a  rough,  unlettered  woodsman  or  mill 
operator,  for  he  is  a  college  man  and  has  the  polish  of  the 
metropolitan  resident.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  a  lumber 
country,  in  the  white  pine  section  of  Michigan,  but  his  indus- 
try has  been  devoted  to  the  successful  operation  of  lumber 
plants  in  the  Atlantic  Coast  states.  The  success  which  has 
come  to  him  in  recent  years  is  due  wholly  to  his  own  efforts, 
keyed  up  by  an  ambition  to  add  to  an  illustrious  family  name. 

The  Whitings  are  a  family  of  ancient  lineage  in  England, 
an  early  ancestor  having  been  a  member  of  the  Puritan  sect 
which  established  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts.  William  S. 
Whiting's  father,  Henry  Whiting,  was  a  native  of  Bath,  New 
York,  who  secured  a  military  training  at  West  Point  and  served 
as  a  colonel  of  the  Second  Vermont  Regiment  in  the  Civil 
War.  The  senior  Whiting,  after  his  marriage  to  Mary  Troop 
Rice,  went  to  Michigan,  where,  in  1851,  he  began  lumbering 
on  Pine  River,  making  his  home  at  St.  Clair.  He  owned  con- 
siderable timber  along  the  river  and  when  this  had  been  cut 
out  and  turned  into  lumber  he  founded  a  mercantile  business 

857 


358  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

that  is  still  carried  on.  William  S.  Whiting  was  the  eleventh 
of  a  family  of  eleven  children  born  to  Henry  Whiting.  His 
birth  occurred  September  2,  1872.  His  mother,  a  woman  of 
refinement  and  education,  was  the  boy's  first  instructor.  Pass- 
ing through  the  lower  grades  of  the  public  schools  of  St.  Clair, 
he  graduated  from  high  school  and  in  1889  matriculated  in  the 
University  of  Michigan. 

Without  finishing  the  course  which  he  had  entered  upon 
at  college,  Mr.  Whiting,  in  the  fall  of  1890,  gave  up  the  idea 
of  a  professional  career  and  turned  his  attention  to  lumbering, 
a  vocation  followed  by  his  father.  An  older  brother,  Frank 
R.  Whiting,  in  1890  had  organized  the  Catawba  Lumber 
Company  and  begun  operations  at  Hickory,  North  Carolina. 
No  better  opening  to  learn  the  lumber  business  could  have 
been  presented  than  at  this  operation  in  the  South  country. 
Mr.  Whiting  went  to  Hickory  where  he  went  into  the  woods 
and  studied  the  methods  of  logging,  gaining  a  knowledge  of 
lumbering  which  he  has  enlarged  from  year  to  year.  Subse- 
quently, he  entered  the  mill  to  familiarize  himself  with  the 
manufacture  of  lumber.  The  operation  was  in  hardwoods, 
and,  in  addition  to  becoming  acquainted  with  all  the  details  of 
logging  and  manufacturing,  Mr.  Whiting  had  some  experience 
in  selling  the  product  of  the  mill.  The  operations  of  the  Ca- 
tawba Lumber  Company  were  closed  in  1895. 

An  opportunity  for  building  up  a  wholesale  business  in  the 
eastern  markets  appeared  to  Mr.  Whiting  when  he  left  the 
South,  and,  in  1895,  with  his  brother,  Frank  R.  Whiting,  he 
organized  the  Whiting  Lumber  Company,  to  do  a  wholesale 
business.  Philadelphia  was  selected  as  a  promising  field  for 
the  energies  of  the  two  men,  and  offices  were  opened  in  the 
Girard  Building.  The  hardwoods  of  the  South,  including 
much  oak,  chestnut  and  poplar,  formed  the  bulk  of  the  busi- 
ness done,  though  considerable  northern  white  pine  was 
secured.  The  growth  of  the  business  was  satisfactory  from 
the  start,  and,  because  of  the  increasing  difficulty  experienced 
in  securing  adequate  stocks  to  fill  orders,  the  Whitings  deter- 


WILLIAM  S.  WHITING  359 

mined  to  engage  in  manufacturing.  Under  the  name  of  the 
Whiting  Lumber  Co.,  a  partnership,  Mr.  Whiting  went  to 
Elizabethton,  Tennessee,  in  the  spring  of  1897  and  started 
operations  there.  About  1900  the  Philadelphia  office  was 
closed  and  Mr.  Whiting  was  joined  by  his  brother  at  Eliza- 
bethton. The  life  of  this  organization  was  ended  in  August, 
1903,  when  Frank  R.  Whiting  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where, 
with  Joseph  W.  Janney,  he  organized  the  Janney- Whiting 
Lumber  Company,  to  do  a  wholesale  business.  William  S. 
Whiting  remained  in  Elizabethton  to  operate  on  a  tract  of  oak 
and  poplar  bought  by  the  Whiting  Manufacturing  Company, 
which  had  been  organized  in  1904  by  the  Whitings.  A  band 
mill  was  built  to  carry  on  this  operation,  and,  when  the  timber 
was  entirely  cut  out  in  1905,  the  mill  was  moved  to  Abingdon, 
Washington  County,  Virginia.  Of  this  concern  Mr.  Whiting 
became  secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager,  with  his 
brother,  Frank  R.  Whiting,  as  president. 

The  company  secured  a  tract  of  rich  timber  lands  south  of 
Abingdon,  in  Carter  and  Johnson  counties,  Tennessee,  upon 
which  it  is  conservatively  estimated  is  standing  75,000,000  feet 
of  merchantable  white  pine,  hemlock  and  hardwood  timber. 
Another  tract  in  Mitchell  County,  North  Carolina,  is  com- 
posed of  oak,  ash  and  poplar.  The  mill  at  Abingdon  is 
equipped  with  a  single  band  saw  and  the  sawmill  and  all  the 
appurtenances  are  of  a  modern  type,  giving  a  capacity  of  50,- 
000  feet  of  lumber  a  day.  A  planing  mill  is  modernly  equipped 
in  proportion  to  the  business  done.  The  plant  is  located  on 
the  Virginia-Carolina  Railway  and  connection  is  made  with 
the  Norfolk  &  Western,  the  Southern  Railway,  the  Virginia  & 
Southwestern  and  other  lines.  The  product  of  the  company 
is  marketed  by  the  Janney-Whiting  Lumber  Company,  of 
Philadelphia,  which  has  a  large  storage  capacity  at  Pier  52, 
North  Wharves. 

The  company  may  be  said  to  be  the  creation  of  Mr.  Whit- 
ing alone,  and  in  the  building  of  the  plant  he  has  embodied 
the  knowledge  gained  from  years  of  experience  in  sawmilling. 


36o  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

As  general  manager  of  the  concern  he  mapped  out  a  plan  of 
operations  that  already  has  begun  to  show  in  substantial  re- 
turns the  skill  of  its  originator. 

Mr.  Whiting  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Buchanan 
Lumber  Company,  of  Judson,  North  Carolina.  This  concern 
operates  a  band  mill  with  a  capacity  of  30,000  feet  daily,  and 
owns,  in  Swain  and  Graham  counties,  on  the  Asheville  and 
Murphy  branch  of  the  Southern  Railway,  about  60,000,000 
feet  of  standing  timber,  consisting  of  poplar,  oak  and  chestnut. 

While  at  Hickory,  North  Carolina,  in  his  earlier  experi- 
ence, Mr.  Whiting  met  his  choice  for  a  life  partner.  She  was 
Miss  Caroline  Loretz  Link,  whom  he  wedded  October  19, 
1898.  A  son  and  two  daughters  brighten  the  family  home  at 
Abingdon.  The  children  are  Henry,  aged  six  years,  Anna 
Belle  and  Caroline  Loretz.  The  family  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Whiting  has  been  so  devoted  to 
his  business  affairs  that  he  has  not  sought  membership  in  social 
or  fraternal  organizations,  except  that  while  at  college  he  was 
initiated  in  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  fraternity  and  has  always 
maintained  an  interest  in  the  organization. 


F.  Bl 


:  .^  _ 


Tb  forced  ' 

in   '  re   is  oitcri 

lumberman,  v 
.ges  to  make  for 
Andrew  F.  P' 
ictcher  Blc 
oomcr,  who  w 
was  the  pro| 
J  was  a  nail-makt  went 

to  London,  wh»^  i  and  taken  to   Boston, 

Massachuse  irried  Elizabeth  Bullis  and  a 

little  latr  lie,  Westchester  County,  New 

York  .  d  at  the  advanced  age  of  102  years,  leaving 

t  and  John,  from  whom  have  sprung  prac- 

all  the  Bloomers  in  the  United  Staffs.     Andrew  F. 

a  representative  of  the  sixth  p-  He  was 

C.   Aup-llSt    TO, 


-h 

lU   1644,  8( 

ving  to  i\cw- 


at  L  .n  s 

le  death  ot  the 

•cii  !i»ed  to  a  son,  J. 

5=l3MOO_ia     R3HOX3_J-^     W3f=)ak1A 


ANDREW/     FLETOHEIR     BLOOMER 


Andrew  F.  Bloomer 


The  enterprise  and  forcefulness  of  the  successful  pioneer 
in  lumber  manufacture  is  often  matched  by  corresponding 
qualities  in  the  retail  lumberman,  who,  in  these  days  of  intense 
competition,  manages  to  make  for  himself  a  place  and  a  repu- 
tation.    Such  is  Andrew  F.  Bloomer,  of  York,  Nebraska. 

Andrew  Fletcher  Bloomer  comes  of  a  distinguished  family. 
Robert  Bloomer,  who  was  born  in  Birmingham,  England,  in 
1628,  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Bloomer  family  in  America. 
He  was  a  nail-maker,  and,  having  reached  his  maturity,  went 
to  London,  where  he  was  kidnaped  and  taken  to  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  in  1649.  ^^  married  Elizabeth  Bullis  and  a 
little  later  moved  to  New  Rochelle,  Westchester  County,  New 
York,  where  he  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  102  years,  leaving 
two  sons,  Robert  and  John,  from  whom  have  sprung  prac- 
tically all  the  Bloomers  in  the  United  States.  Andrew  F. 
Bloomer  is  a  representative  of  the  sixth  generation.  He  was 
born  at  Newburgh,  Orange  County,  New  York,  August  19, 
1851.  His  father,  Reuben  H.  Bloomer,  was  for  many  years 
a  Methodist  minister,  but  failing  health  compelled  him  to  re- 
tire from  the  pulpit  in  1855,  and  he  established  the  Newburgh 
Times,  which,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  became  a  strong 
advocate  of  the  Union  cause.  He  continued  the  editorship 
of  the  paper  until  his  death  in  1866.  Almira  Chase  Bloomer, 
mother  of  Andrew  F.  Bloomer,  was  descended  from  Thomas 
Chase,  who  came  from  England  to  America  in  1644,  settling 
at  first  in  New  Hampshire  and  afterward  removing  to  New- 
buryport,  Massachusetts. 

The  son  received  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  city,  supplemented  by  a  business  course  at  Eastman's 
College,  at  Poughkeepsle,  New  York.  Upon  the  death  of  the 
senior  Bloomer  the  conduct  of  the  paper  passed  to  a  son,  J. 

361 


362  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Watson  Bloomer,  a  brother  of  Andrew,  and  the  latter  served 
an  apprenticeship  on  the  paper  for  two  years.  In  1869,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  years,  Andrew  F.  Bloomer  determined  to  move 
West,  and  went  to  Chicago. 

It  was  in  that  growing  city  of  the  middle  West  that  he  had 
his  first  experience  in  the  lumber  business,  entering  the  em- 
ploy of  D.  F.  Chase  &  Bro.,  which  firm  included  David  F. 
Chase,  Horace  W.  Chase  (both  uncles  of  Mr.  Bloomer)  and 
Davey  S.  Pate,  the  last  named  being  still  prominent  as  a  Chi- 
cago lumberman.  Young  Bloomer  was  given  a  training  in  the 
various  departments  of  the  business  and  proved  a  bright,  ener- 
getic business  man.  When  the  three  members  of  the  firm  of 
D.  F.  Chase  &  Bro.,  together  with  W.  M.  Miner,  a  few  years 
afterward  opened  a  lumber  yard  in  Wyoming,  Illinois,  under 
the  name  of  W.  M.  Miner  &  Co.,  Mr.  Bloomer  was  placed  in 
charge.  Mr.  Miner  later  bought  the  interests  of  his  partners 
and  conducted  the  business  under  his  individual  name,  retain- 
ing Mr.  Bloomer  as  manager.  The  latter  was  anxious  to  con- 
duct a  yard  himself  and,  in  1877,  became  owner  of  the  busi- 
ness and  conducted  it  with  much  success  until  1884,  when  he 
sold  it  to  G.  V.  Anderson,  of  New  Boston,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Bloomer  saw  greater  opportunities  farther  west  and 
he  migrated  from  Illinois  to  York,  Nebraska,  after  he  disposed 
of  his  interests  in  Wyoming.  He  began  a  lumber  business 
there  which  he  continued  for  more  than  twenty  years,  until, 
on  December  i,  1904,  he  sold  the  yard  to  the  C.  N.  Dietz 
Lumber  Company,  of  Omaha,  and  retired  from  business  to 
devote  his  time  to  well-earned  rest  and  travel  and  to  the  over- 
sight of  the  real  estate  and  other  properties  in  which  he  had 
invested  his  surplus  capital. 

Mr.  Bloomer's  conduct  of  the  lumber  business  at  York 
was  marked  by  industry  and  close  personal  application,  which, 
however,  are  by  no  means  exceptional  characteristics  of  a  man 
engaged  in  the  retail  lumber  yard  business.  The  one  thing  in 
which  he  showed  a  particularly  marked  talent  was  the  very  im- 
portant one  of  keeping  himself  and  his  business  constantly  and 


ANDREW  F.  BLOOMER  363 

prominently  in  the  public  eye.  He  was  a  most  liberal  patron 
of  every  form  of  advertising,  employing  every  legitimate  de- 
vice for  that  purpose.  His  advertising  was  distinctive,  not  by 
the  amount  of  money  expended  upon  it,  but  by  the  original 
ideas  with  which  it  was  infused  throughout.  Much  of  the  ad- 
vertising was  done  in  rhyme  of  somewhat  homely  character, 
but  which,  however  much  it  might  violate  the  rules  of  poetic 
composition,  did  not  allow  the  reader  in  any  instance  to  lose 
sight  of  the  advantage  of  buying  his  lumber  of  Bloomer. 

A  personal  element,  also,  entered  into  this  campaign  to  a 
remarkable  extent.  Mr.  Bloomer  is  a  man  of  magnetic  indi- 
viduality, courteous  and  affable,  and  he  made  it  his  rule  to 
foster  social  relations  in  every  possible  way  with  all  actual  or 
possible  customers  in  his  community  and  also  with  those  from 
whom  his  lumber  supplies  were  secured.  No  traveling  man 
ever  came  to  his  office  without  a  cordial  reception,  and,  if  the 
stock  of  lumber  did  not  need  replenishing  at  that  particular 
time,  the  salesman,  probably,  was  called  upon  to  contribute 
some  item  of  current  interest  or  information  to  the  stock  of 
trade  knowledge,  which  was  one  of  the  assets  of  the  Bloomer 
yard.  Customers,  somehow,  carried  away  the  impression  that 
they  had  secured  a  peculiar  advantage  in  placing  their  order. 
Complaints  were  adjusted  in  some  manner  which,  while  not 
too  expensive  to  Mr.  Bloomer,  left  with  the  customers  a  sense 
of  full  reparation  and,  perhaps,  some  feeling  of  compunction 
that  they  had  created  a  disturbance  over  too  unimportant  a 
detail.  Besides  being  so  persistent  an  advertiser  and  so  excel- 
lent a  salesman  Mr.  Bloomer  has  been  one  of  the  shrewdest 
and  most  experienced  of  lumbermen,  an  omniverous  reader, 
a  close  observer  while  traveling,  in  touch  with  general  market 
conditions  and  always  ready  to  take  advantage  of  new  ideas  or 
new  trade  opportunities. 

Mr.  Bloomer  in  politics  always  has  been  a  Republican  and 
has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  local  political  affairs.  He  has 
endeavored  to  do  his  part  in  the  building  up  of  business  enter- 
prises in  his  section,  having  been  identified  with  a  number  of 


364  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

local  manufacturing  industries  of  different  kinds.  He  has  in- 
vested his  surplus  earnings  in  the  development  of  his  adopted 
State,  Nebraska,  very  largely  in  city  and  farm  real  estate,  and 
the  growing  agricultural  prominence  of  the  State  has  rendered 
these  investments  profitable  and  certified  to  his  wisdom  in  se- 
lecting them. 

During  the  year  after  entering  the  lumber  business  in  Ne- 
braska, on  March  18,  1884,  Mr.  Bloomer  married  Miss  Eliza 
T.  Miner,  daughter  of  his  former  employer.  Mr.  Bloomer 
and  his  wife  have  always  been  fond  of  traveling  and  have  vis- 
ited nearly  every  important  section  of  the  United  States  at  one 
time  or  another.  In  December,  1905,  they  took  an  extended 
trip  to  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  China  and  Japan,  returning  to 
the  States  the  following  May. 

Mr.  Bloomer  is  a  large  stockholder  in  the  York  Foundry 
&  Engine  Works,  one  of  the  first  directors  and  a  stockholder 
in  the  York  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  a  stockholder  and 
director  in  the  York  Building  &  Loan  Association,  the  York 
Creamery,  the  Nebraska  Telephone  Company,  and  is  liberally 
interested  in  the  beet  sugar  industry.  He  was  one  of  the  sub- 
scribers to  a  street  railway  project  and  a  prime  mover  in  the 
York  County  Agricultural  Society  and  the  Farmers'  Grain 
Association,  of  York.  Thus  he  has  identified  himself  with 
every  phase  of  life  in  the  community  and  section  in  which  he 
lived. 


Thomas  A.  Moore 


While  butyr^^-"     ^  "...:_  .- 
who,  at  the  same  liuic, 
fortunate  j-  -  ' 

friends ;  fr 

ward.  1 

both  if  he 

i 

not  buy. 

cr  generation  of  lumbermen  of 

ih  who  have  forged  ahead  to  positions  of  trust  and 

responsibility  in  the  business  world  by  their  own  fighting  and 

winning   abilities  alone.     He   began   his  lumber  career  as  a 

wholesaler — not  the  wholesaler  with  a  luxurious  office  and 

»  '  credit,  but  rather  amid  humble  surroundings  and  with 

I  to  the  comparativelv  -  nt  he  and  his 

(  this  unosten- 

•  1  he  had  no 

p-  part  of 

'■V  on 


"•r  of 

his 
of 


i,  lenn- 


the  taa)c  ,,  was 


^ 


TH 


OMAS    ANTHONY     MOORE 


Thomas  A.  Moore 


While  busy  making  dollars  in  the  commercial  world  a  man 
who,  at  the  same  time,  has  not  neglected  to  make  friends  is  a 
fortunate  individual.  No  knack  exists  in  the  making  of  real 
friends ;  friendships  spring  from  the  seeds  of  kindness  and 
courteousness  sown  without  a  mercenary  expectation  of  re- 
ward. Thomas  A.  Moore,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  has  acquired 
both  wealth  and  friendship  in  his  business  career,  but  if  he 
were  given  his  choice  as  to  which  he  would  keep  he  would 
choose  friendship — the  one  thing  money  will  not  buy. 

He  belongs  to  the  younger  generation  of  lumbermen  of 
the  South  who  have  forged  ahead  to  positions  of  trust  and 
responsibility  in  the  business  world  by  their  own  fighting  and 
winning  abilities  alone.  He  began  his  lumber  career  as  a 
wholesaler — not  the  wholesaler  with  a  luxurious  office  and 
strong  credit,  but  rather  amid  humble  surroundings  and  with 
capital  limited  to  the  comparatively  small  amount  he  and  his 
partner  had  been  able  to  save  as  employees.  In  this  unosten- 
tatious manner  he  began  following  a  trade  of  which  he  had  no 
practical  knowledge,  this  essential  training  being  part  of  the 
assets  of  his  partner.  But  Mr.  Moore  seized  every  opportu- 
nity to  acquaint  himself  with  the  practical  side  of  the  business 
and  within  a  few  years  he  had  acquired  a  substantial  knowl- 
edge of  the  manufacture  and  distribution  of  lumber. 

Thomas  Anthony  Moore  comes  of  a  distinguished  line  of 
ancestors.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  his 
great-grandfather,  EH  Moore,  left  his  home  in  the  north  of 
Ireland  and  came  to  America,  settling  at  Beaver  Falls,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  married  Deborah  UpdegrafT.  His  wife  was 
of  the  old  Knickerbocker  stock  that  settled  in  New  York,  and 
she  was  related  to  the  Van  Rensselaers.  T.  A.  Moore,  Senior, 
the  father  of  T.  A.  Moore  the  present  day  lumberman,  was 

ses 


366  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

born  in  Harrison  County,  Ohio,  in  1838.  On  his  mother's 
side,  Mr.  Moore,  Junior,  traces  his  lineage  to  Sir  Archibald 
Mossman,  of  Berwick,  England,  who  married  Margaret  Young, 
of  that  place.  The  Mossmans  had  one  child,  a  daughter,  Lady 
Eleanor  Mossman,  who  married  Anthony  Ballard  after  the 
family  had  migrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Virginia.  Their 
daughter,  Louise  Ballard,  the  grandmother  of  Thomas  Anthony 
Moore,  Junior,  married  Ezekiel  Pilcher,  at  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Clarissa  V.  Pilcher,  a  daughter,  married  Thomas  A.  Moore, 
Senior,  October  7,  1862,  and  to  this  couple  was  born  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  a  son,  Thomas  Anthony  Moore,  October  15, 
1867. 

What  education  Mr.  Moore  recalls  was  obtained  in  the 
public  schools  of  St.  Louis.  His. school  days  were  not  many, 
for  a  combination  of  adverse  circumstances  compelled  him  to 
begin  the  serious  work  of  life  when  he  was  thirteen  years  old. 
In  1880  he  began  his  business  career  as  a  cash  boy  in  the  store 
of  the  Barr's  Dry  Goods  Company,  at  wages  of  $2  a  week.  A 
year  had  not  elapsed  before  he  secured  a  position  with  Wood- 
ward, Tiernan  &  Hale,  now  the  Woodward  &  Tiernan  Print- 
ing Company.  He  began  as  a  ^'printer's  devil,"  and  he  was 
scarce  more  than  that  when  two  years  later  he  sought  another 
position  with  more  pay.  Work  was  not  readily  obtainable  and 
the  lad  walked  the  streets  for  a  week  before  he  found  a  posi- 
tion as  office  boy  with  Fullerton  &  Post,  a  firm  of  lawyers, 
where  he  was  paid  $2.75  a  week  for  his  services.  A  few  months 
later  he  became  collector  and  office  boy  for  A.  Judlin  &  Co., 
real  estate  agents,  for  which  he  received  $5  a  week. 

Young  Moore  constantly  was  looking  for  an  opening  where 
he  was  sure  merit  would  be  rewarded.  In  the  spring  of  1885 
he  became  a  messenger  for  the  Wiggins  Ferry  Company,  and 
in  the  nine  years  he  remained  with  that  concern  he  was  pro- 
moted successively  to  the  positions  of  collector,  assistant  cashier, 
secretary  to  the  general  manager,  chief  clerk  and  assistant 
general  freight  agent  of  the  company.  When  a  change  in  the 
management  of  the  company  was  made  in  1893  Mr.  Moore 


THOMAS  A.  MOORE  367 

resigned  to  become  connected  with  the  St.  Louis  South-western 
Railway,  now  a  part  of  the  Cotton  Belt  Route.  In  the  railroad 
work  he  handled  freight  claims,  overcharges  on  rates  and  loss 
and  damage  claims.  He  was  with  the  company  but  a  few 
months  when  a  retrenchment  order  reduced  the  force  and  Mr. 
Moore  found  himself  without  a  position.  But  a  man  of  his 
energy  and  capability  was  not  long  without  a  connection,  and, 
in  the  fall  of  1893,  ^^  became  bookkeeper  and  accountant  for 
Swift  &  Co.,  at  St.  Louis,  but  later  was  transferred  to  Chicago. 

Subsequently,  Mr.  Moore  returned  to  St.  Louis  as  city 
agent  for  the  JEtns.  Life  Insurance  Company  and  remained  in 
that  line  until  the  spring  of  1899.  At  that  time  he  came  into 
business  contact  with  George  T.  Mickle,  now  a  prosperous 
wholesale  lumberman  of  Chicago,  whom  he  had  known  socially 
as  well.  Mr.  Mickle  was  then  traveling  for  J.  C.  McLachlin, 
manager  of  the  Big  Four  Lumber  Company.  The  two  men 
determined  to  engage  in  the  lumber  business  for  themselves, 
and,  with  a  small  amount  of  capital,  they  rented  a  little  back 
office  in  the  FuUerton  Building  and  began  business  as  the 
Mickle-Moore  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Moore  did  the  book- 
keeping and  typewriting  and  Mr.  Mickle  attended  to  the  buy- 
ing and  selling.  The  combination  proved  an  effective  one 
and  the  business  prospered  from  the  outset. 

Buying  his  partner's  interest  in  the  Mickle-Moore  Lumber 
Company  in  the  spring  of  1901,  Mr.  Moore  changed  the  style 
of  the  business  to  the  Moore  Lumber  &  Mill  Company.  In 
the  meantime  Mr.  Mickle  went  into  business  with  B.  H. 
Pollock  and  M.  L.  Fleishel,  organizing  the  Colonial  Lumber 
&  Timber  Company.  The  interests  of  Mr.  Pollock  and  Mr. 
Mickle  in  this  concern  were  bought  by  Mr.  Moore  in  1902, 
and  he  became  vice  president  of  the  company,  retaining  the 
office  until  December,  1904.  At  the  end  of  that  period  Mr. 
Moore  took  a  well  earned  rest,  spending  most  of  his  time  in 
outdoor  games  at  the  Glen  Echo  Country  Club,  at  Normandy, 
Missouri. 

The  Moore  Company,  which  comprises  Mr.  Moore's  sole 


368  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

lumber  interests  today,  was  organized  in  October,  1905,  for  the 
purpose  of  handling  yellow  pine,  hardwoods.  Pacific  Coast 
lumber  and  shingles  at  wholesale.  The  offices  of  the  company 
are  located  in  the  Fullerton  Building,  St.  Louis,  the  scene  of 
his  initial  appearance  in  the  lumber  field.  With  his  character- 
istic energy  and  showing  of  ability  Mr.  Moore  made  excellent 
mill  connections  in  each  line  and  proceeded  to  build  up  a 
business  that  has  long  passed  the  experimental  stage  and  which 
attests  his  experience  and  popularity. 

Mr.  Moore  is  a  member  of  the  Glen  Echo  Country  Club 
and  the  Mercantile  Club,  of  St.  Louis.  He  is  secretary  of  the 
Yellow  Piners,  a  purely  social  organization  which  he  assisted 
in  organizing  and  which  has  a  wide  reputation  among  lumber- 
men. In  September,  1903,  Mr.  Moore  was  appointed  vice- 
gerent snark  of  the  Concatenated  Order  of  Hoo-Hoo  for  the 
southern  district  of  Missouri,  and  was  nicknamed  the  ''World's 
Fair  Snark."  He  earned  the  title  by  his  activity  in  behalf  of 
the  order  during  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition,  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  probably  met  more  Hoo-Hoo  than  any  other 
person. 

Mr.  Moore  has  all  the  vigor  and  ambition  of  a  young  man. 
He  is  an  optimist  in  all  matters  and  decidedly  genial  in  his 
manner,  as  becomes  a  man  of  his  physique.  He  has  a  smile 
and  a  hearty  handshake  for  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact, 
giving  a  lasting  impression  of  the  wholesouled,  earnest  man 
whom  it  is  a  delight  to  know. 

Mr.  Moore  married  Miss  Rebecca  Homer  Tebbetts,  at  St. 
Louis,  April  27,  1895,  ^"^  ^^^Y  ^"^  much  enjoyment  in  the 
social  life  of  the  city  in  which  they  make  their  home. 


It  is 


'^as 


:<  m  which  nc  iina^ 
to  his  self-improvement;  but  when 
to  place  him  in  an  atmosphere  which  is  not  hos- 

1  with  ample  potential  and 

2  of  his  opportunity., 
a,  to  an  ordinary  man  would  be 
fatal,  to  reach  the  goal  of  his  ambition.  Many  of  the  prom- 
inent lumbermen  of  the  United  States  have  been  sons  of  lum- 
bermen, but  still  more  have  been  reared  in  a  lumber  atmos- 
l  'ter  cU^^  Tohn  B.  Nalty,  of  Brookhavcn,  Miss- 

"*ivc  of 

uuuin,  be- 
all  others 
ic  met  and 

Til 

id, 


to 
al 

ed 
from  t  n 

made  1  • 


JOHN     BERNARD     NAL-TY 


John  B.  Nalty 


It  is  a  trite  and  hackneyed  saying  that  environment  has 
much  to  do  with  the  character  and  success  of  an  individual. 
Nevertheless,  nature  frequently  fails  to  accustom  a  man  to  his 
environment,  and  the  surroundings  in  which  he  finds  himself 
in  early  life  are  detrimental  to  his  self-improvement;  but  when 
nature  sees  fit  to  place  him  in  an  atmosphere  which  is  not  hos- 
tile to  his  character  and  endows  him  with  ample  potential  and 
latent  energy,  he  may  be  said  to  enjoy  a  capital  of  greater  value 
than  money,  and  he  has  only  to  make  use  of  his  opportunities 
and  surmount  obstacles,  which,  to  an  ordinary  man  would  be 
fatal,  to  reach  the  goal  of  his  ambition.  Many  of  the  prom- 
inent lumbermen  of  the  United  States  have  been  sons  of  lum- 
bermen, but  still  more  have  been  reared  in  a  lumber  atmos- 
phere. Of  the  latter  class  John  B.  Nalty,  of  Brookhaven,  Miss- 
issippi, may  be  considered  an  example. 

In  the  years  before  the  Civil  War,  Patrick  Nalty,  a  native  of 
Ireland,  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  the  South,  be- 
coming the  owner  of  a  large  plantation,  which,  like  all  others 
in  the  far  South,  was  worked  entirely  by  slaves.  He  met  and 
married  Bridget  Hyland,  who  had  also  migrated  from  Ireland, 
and  at  their  home  in  Copiah  County,  Mississippi,  their  son, 
John  Bernard  Nalty,  was  born  May  23,  1857. 

Giving  up  his  plantation  in  1864,  Patrick  Nalty  moved  to 
Brookhaven,  Mississippi,  where  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
business,  becoming  one  of  the  first  merchants  in  the  town.  As 
soon  as  the  son,  John  Bernard,  was  old  enough  he  was  sent  to 
a  private  school  at  Brookhaven  where  he  received  his  general 
education,  and,  after  finishing  his  course  there,  he  entered  the 
Soul€  Commercial  College,  in  New  Orleans.  He  graduated 
from  that  institution  in  1878,  and,  returning  to  Brookhaven, 
made  his  first  business  venture  the  following  year,  operating  a 


369 


370  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

store  which  catered  to  the  sawmill  trade.  Brookhaven  was  then 
an  important  lumber  town  and  his  constant  association  and 
contact  with  people  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  necessarily 
yielded  him  a  generous  fund  of  information  regarding  the  in- 
dustry. He  continued  in  the  mercantile  business  for  ten  years, 
but,  tiring  of  the  restrictions  it  imposed  upon  him,  he  aban- 
doned it  and  bought  the  East  Union  Mills,  a  small  sawmill 
located  four  miles  east  of  Brookhaven.  The  plant  at  that  time 
was  sawing  car  sills  and  railroad  timbers  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else,  and  Mr.  Nalty  carried  on  the  operation  along 
the  same  lines  for  about  seven  years. 

The  timber  available  for  the  East  Union  Mills  having  been 
cut  out,  in  189s  Mr.  Nalty  moved  to  Hyde,  Tangipahoa  Par- 
ish, Louisiana,  where  he  operated  a  sawmill  until  1903,  when 
his  timber  supply  was  again  exhausted.  In  1900  he  had  bought 
a  planing  mill  in  Brookhaven,  which  he  operated  in  connec- 
tion with  the  sawmill  at  Hyde,  also  buying  stocks  from  other 
mills  along  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  At  the  time  of  pur- 
chase this  planing  mill  had  a  capacity  of  10,000  feet  daily,  but 
it  since  has  been  improved  and  modernized  and  its  capacity 
increased  to  75,000  feet  a  day,  this  having  been  accomplished 
by  the  installation  of  the  most  modern  machinery  and  by  sys- 
tematizing its  operation.  In  connection  with  this  plant  he  in- 
augurated a  city  retail  trade,  which  has  grown  to  large  propor- 
tions and  has  become  a  prominent  factor  in  the  lumber  indus- 
try of  Brookhaven. 

Seeking  another  plant  to  take  the  place  of  the  Hyde  mill, 
in  1903  Mr.  Nalty  bought  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Hani- 
mond  Lumber  Company,  Limited,  located  at  Hammond,  Loui- 
siana. A  new  sawmill  had  just  been  constructed  at  that  point, 
and,  finding  the  plant  to  be  all  that  he  desired,  the  following 
year  he  purchased  all  of  the  remaining  stock  of  the  company. 
The  Hammond  plant,  which  has  been  in  operation  since  that 
time,  has  a  daily  capacity  of  60,000  feet  and  the  stock  is  shipped 
to  the  Brookhaven  planing  mill  for  dressing.  Mr.  Nalty  ex- 
ercises direct  supervision  over  both  the  saw  and  planing  mill 


JOHN  B.  NALTY  371 

plants  and  spends  much  of  his  time  in  the  personal  direction 
of  these  operations,  over  which  he  has  placed  the  very  best 
superintendents  he  has  been  able  to  employ.  The  total  invest- 
ment in  the  two  plants  is  about  $150,000. 

While  much  of  his  time  has  been  occupied  with  his  exten- 
sive operations  at  Brookhaven,  Mississippi,  and  Hammond, 
Louisiana,  Mr.  Nalty  has  found  time  to  interest  himself  in 
several  other  concerns.  He  is  president  of  the  Empire  Lum- 
ber &  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and 
of  the  Jackson  Lumber  Company,  located  in  the  same  city,  the 
latter  being  the  largest  retail  yard  in  the  State.  He  is  presi- 
dent also  of  the  Grenada  Lumber  Company,  which  operates  a 
large  retail  yard  at  Grenada,  Mississippi,  and  has  several  in- 
vestments in  other  industries  in  Brookhaven  and  throughout 
the  State. 

Mr.  Nalty  married  Miss  Mamie  Halpin,  of  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, in  1885,  and  the  couple  has  reared  five  sons  and  one 
daughter.  The  sons  are  Louis  D.,  Willie  H.,  Eugene,  Ray  and 
J.  B.  Nalty,  Junior,  and  the  daughter  is  Naoma.  Mr.  Nalty  and 
his  family  attend  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  at  Brookhaven. 
In  politics  he  has  no  party  affiliations  and  has  no  ambition  to 
enter  the  political  world.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Benevolent 
Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  of  the  Concatenated  Order  of 
Hoo-Hoo.  In  the  latter  order  he  was  vicegerent  for  the  State 
of  Mississippi,  in  1897.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Osirian 
Cloister.  He  was  elected  High  Priest  of  Isis  in  1904,  and  of 
Anubis  in  1905. 

Mr.  Nalty  has  been  highly  honored  by  his  fellow  citizens 
of  Brookhaven,  who  have  shown  their  esteem  for  him  by  mak- 
ing him  president  of  the  school  board  of  that  city,  which  office 
he  has  held  for  the  last  five  years.  He  belongs  to  no  clubs 
and  finds  that  his  unoccupied  time  can  most  profitably  be 
spent  with  his  family.  If  he  may  be  said  to  have  any  fads,  his 
inclinations  are  for  fishing  and  traveling,  and  he  has,  in  a  meas- 
ure, gratified  his  desire  for  travel  by  visiting  practically  every 
part  of  the  United  States. 


372  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Desire  for  great  wealth,  or  craving  for  an  uneasy  eminence 
in  the  world  of  affairs,  finds  little  place  in  Mr.  Nalty's  tem- 
peramental makeup.  Consequently,  he  is  not  and  does  not 
care  to  be  one  of  the  great  lumber  operators  of  the  South ; 
but  he  is  content,  and  that  is  better.  He  wants  enough  work 
healthfully  to  engage  his  abilities,  but  he  also  wants  that 
measure  of  leisure  which  will  allow  him  to  enjoy  the  company 
of  his  family  and  friends,  and  quietly  to  repossess  himself. 
Busy  he  is,  yet  with  time  for  other  than  business.  And  so,  as 
a  useful  citizen  and  a  good  friend,  he  is  living  a  sane  and 
pleasant  life. 


5  to  an  uncle,  who  gave  him  the  advan- 

-  example  and  a  solid  business  training  and  sym- 

..c   has  come  to  be  widely  known  in   the  hardwood 

...crnity,  not  on^'  ^^  f^*^  ^mtr  but  of  the  country,  and,  while 

achieving  only  ...  .    ,^.....n,  as  riches  go  in  these  days, 

c,.^,r,5  (Q  have   esi«>  .Loned  himself  on  a  solid  foundation  in 

wiirt  4Cter  and  methods. 

Jacob  VanSickle  Stimson  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Martins- 
ville, Indiana,  April  28,  1861.     His  father,  Erastus  F.  Stimson, 
belonged  to  an  old  North  Carolina  family,   removing  from 
^  '    '    na  about  1852,  and  his  m*    '       was  Mercy 

'er  line 

ot   an  old 

f  four  sons. 

t  out  in  the 

rk  during  that 

in  Martinsville  as  a 

de,  Andrew  R.  Van- 

;  hit  uncle.     The  firm  was  a  stave  and 

having  heavy  contracts  with  the  Stan- 

i  other  institutions.     Young  Stimson 

about  seven  years,  until  its  dissolution, 

^  an  inspector  and 
years,  he  attended  school. 

When  Mr    Stimson  con- 

tinued --.ory.     To 


JACOB    VamSIOKL-E:    sximson 


Jacob  V.  Stimson 


Among  the  comparatively  young  hardwood  lumbermen  of 
Indiana  who,  within  the  last  decade,  have  made  names  and 
places  for  themselves  is  Jacob  V.  Stimson,  of  Huntingburg. 
Solely  by  his  own  merits  and  ability  and  without  assistance — 
save  that  which  he  owes  to  an  uncle,  who  gave  him  the  advan- 
tage of  a  good  example  and  a  solid  business  training  and  sym- 
pathy— he  has  come  to  be  widely  known  in  the  hardwood 
fraternity,  not  only  of  the  State  but  of  the  country,  and,  while 
achieving  only  moderate  wealth,  as  riches  go  in  these  days, 
seems  to  have  established  himself  on  a  solid  foundation  in 
character  and  methods. 

Jacob  VanSickle  Stimson  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Martins- 
ville, Indiana,  April  28,  1861.  His  father,  Erastus  F.  Stimson, 
belonged  to  an  old  North  Carolina  family,  removing  from 
that  State  to  Indiana  about  1852,  and  his  mother  was  Mercy 
A.  (VanSickle)  Stimson,  who  was  born  on  the  border  line 
between  New  York  and  New  Jersey  and  came  of  an  old 
Knickerbocker  family.     Jacob  V.  was  the  oldest  of  four  sons. 

When  sixteen  years  old  he  left  the  farm  to  start  out  in  the 
world  for  himself.  He  engaged  in  farm  work  during  that 
summer  and  in  the  fall  secured  a  position  in  Martinsville  as  a 
"stave  bucker"  with  McGregor  &  VanSickle,  Andrew  R.  Van- 
Sickle of  the  firm  being  his  uncle.  The  firm  was  a  stave  and 
cooperage  supply  house  having  heavy  contracts  with  the  Stan- 
dard Oil  Company  and  other  institutions.  Young  Stimson 
remained  with  this  firm  about  seven  years,  until  its  dissolution, 
running  a  machine  and,  later,  becoming  an  inspector  and 
buyer.  Each  winter,  for  several  years,  he  attended  school, 
and  also  taught  two  or  three  terms. 

When  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  Mr.  Stimson  con- 
tinued with  his  uncle  as  superintendent  of  his  factory.     To 

873 


374  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

this  uncle  he  owes  a  greater  debt  of  gratitude  than  to  any  other 
man  in  the  world,  for  he  was  a  man  of  the  highest  honor,  from 
whom  a  young  man  of  sensibility  was  bound  to  absorb  some- 
thing of  his  character.  He  was,  also,  a  man  of  warm  sym- 
pathies, and  to  young  Stimson  he  extended  what  opportunities 
he  could.  In  1890  he  took  him  into  partnership  in  a  small 
sawmill  at  Heltonville,  Lawrence  County,  on  what  is  now  the 
Southern  Indiana  Railroad.  That  section  of  country  was  once 
noted  for  the  quantity  and  quality  of  its  hardwood  lumber, 
and  this  first  venture  of  Mr.  Stimson's  was  profitable,  from  a 
modest  standpoint,  but  was  overtaken  by  misfortune  in  the 
shape  of  a  bank  failure  in  1893  ^^^j  i"  ^^^  following  year,  by 
a  fire  which  destroyed  the  entire  plant,  on  which  there  was  no 
insurance. 

Mr.  Stimson  then  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  VanSickle,  and, 
with  less  than  $5,000,  began  business  on  his  own  account,  in  1 895, 
at  Huntingburg,  where  he  has  since  made  his  headquarters 
and  also  his  home.  He  leased  a  site  for  his  sawmill,  bought  a 
second-hand  band  mill,  and  when  his  plant  was  ready  to  run 
his  capital  was  exhausted  and  the  mill  was  not  entirely  paid  for. 
But  he  borrowed  money  with  which  to  buy  timber  and  oper- 
ate, and,  by  the  hardest  kind  of  both  mental  and  physical  labor, 
struggled  toward  success.  Oftentimes  he  would  fall  asleep 
from  sheer  exhaustion  at  his  desk  at  night.  So  necessary  was 
it  to  turn  over  his  product  rapidly  that  for  three  years  he  sold 
it  green  from  the  saw  to  dealers  who  would  make  advances ; 
but  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  had  enough  capital  ahead  to  dry 
and  handle  his  own  lumber. 

Two  years  of  prosperous  business,  though  still  not  on  a 
large  scale,  brought  him  to  the  year  1900,  when  he  felt  at 
liberty  to  expand  his  operations.  He  bought  a  circular  mill  in 
Owensboro,  Kentucky,  built  by  Nathan  Thayer,  and  operated 
it  for  two  years,  when  it  was  burned.  Mr.  Stimson  replaced 
it  with  a  modern  band  mill,  which  is  operated  under  the  name 
of  J.  V.  Stimson  &  Co.,  Mr.  Stimson's  partner  being  his 
brother,  Dayton  C.  Stimson,  who  has  a  third  interest  in  the 


JACOB  V.  STIMSON  375 

business.  In  1903  Mr.  Stimson  bought  a  tract  of  timber  at 
Earl,  Arkansas,  on  which  he  put  two  portable  circular  mills. 
Later,  he  bought  timber  in  Mississippi,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1905-6  sold  one  of  the  Arkansas  portables  and  moved  the  other 
to  Mississippi,  enlarging  it  and  operating  it  as  the  J.  V.  Stim- 
son Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Stimson's  brother  Harry  is  the 
partner  in  this  firm,  having  a  third  interest.  Mr.  Stimson  still 
takes  the  product  of  the  mill  in  Arkansas,  and  has  purchased 
about  5,000  acres  of  fine  hardwood  timber  near  Bearden,  in 
the  same  State.  In  addition,  he  is  connected  with  his  younger 
brother,  Anson  R.  Stimson,  in  the  Stimson  Lumber  Company, 
at  Penrose,  North  Carolina. 

The  daily  output  of  hardwood  of  Mr.  Stimson's  concerns 
is  nearly  100,000  feet,  while,  in  addition,  more  or  less  coarse 
lumber  is  bought,  chiefly  from  parties  who  sell  to  him  their 
good  logs  for  manufacture  at  his  band  mills,  but  who  them- 
selves cut  their  coarser  logs.  In  1905  Mr,  Stimson  bought 
another  band  mill  in  Owensboro,  making  three  band  mills 
owned  and  operated  by  the  Stimson  interests. 

Mr.  Stimson's  specialty  is  high  grade  quartered  oak  for  the 
furniture  and  interior  finish  trade  ;  but  this  is  accompanied  with 
an  output  of  all  varieties  of  commercial  hardwoods  to  be  found 
upon  the  lands  he  occupies,  the  coarse  oak  logs  being  largely 
cut  into  car  and  structural  timbers,  switch  ties,  fence  posts, 
piling,  etc.,  while  considerable  quantities  of  other  hardwoods 
are  manufactured.  Mr.  Stimson's  policy  has  been  to  buy 
stumpage  rather  than  land,  although,  in  some  cases,  the  latter 
has  been  necessary.  He  believes  in  the  value  of  hardwood 
lumber,  and  carries  always  from  5,000,000  to  6,000,000  feet  on 
sticks,  and  has  the  reputation  of  being  an  excellent  judge  of 
values  and  of  the  future  trend  of  the  market. 

He  has  confined  himself  strictly  to  the  hardwood  lumber 
business,  his  only  other  outside  interest  being  a  250-acre  farm 
near  Huntingburg,  the  management  of  which  gives  relaxation 
from  the  steady  grind  of  business.  In  1902  he  helped  organize 
the  Huntingburg  Wagon  Works,  but  sold  his  interest  in  1904. 


376  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Mr.  Stimson  is  unusually  clean-cut  and  independent  in  his 
business  methods.  He  has  always  avoided  hampering  indebt- 
edness. It  was  necessary  at  the  beginning  to  borrow  money, 
but  he  did  so  on  his  own  name  and  credit,  and  he  has  never 
given  a  mortgage  or  asked  any  one  to  indorse  his  paper.  He 
ascribes  what  business  success  he  has  achieved  to  the  fact  that, 
from  the  beginning,  he  deliberately  sought  to  earn  more  than 
he  received — to  make  his  employer's  interests  his  own  and  to 
spare  nothing  of  labor  or  mental  effort.  Thus,  making  money 
for  his  employers,  he  learned  to  make  it  for  himself,  and  ac- 
quired the  habit  of  profitable  employment. 

Being  a  believer  in  cooperation,  at  the  first  opportunity 
Mr.  Stimson  associated  himself  with  other  manufacturers  in 
lumber  organizations.  He  attended  the  meeting  in  St.  Louis 
in  1897,  when  the  Mississippi  Valley  Hardwood  Lumber  Asso- 
ciation was  formed,  with  the  late  C.  A.  Ward,  of  Chicago,  as 
president.  Later,  he  helped  organize  the  Indiana  Hardwood 
Lumber  Association,  of  which  he  was  the  second  president. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Hardwood  Lumber  Associa- 
tion and  of  the  National  Wholesale  Lumber  Dealers'  Associa- 
tion, in  both  of  which  he  has  done  much  effective  work.  He 
is  recognized  as  one  of  the  clearest  thinkers  and  best  debaters 
in  the  National  Hardwood  Lumber  Association,  and,  although 
he  represents  the  manufacturing  rather  than  the  lumber-han- 
dling element  in  that  body,  his  influence  is  strong. 

Mr.  Stimson  married,  in  1882,  Miss  Eva  Davis,  of  Colum- 
bus, Indiana.  They  have  three  children — Robert,  nineteen 
years  of  age,  a  junior  in  the  Indiana  State  University  at 
Bloomington  ;  Fred,  fifteen  years  old,  attending  the  Hunting- 
burg  high  school,  and  Helen,  eleven  years  old.  Mr.  Stimson 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  In  national  politics 
he  is  a  Republican.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  a 
member  of  Lavelette  Commandery,  of  Evansville,  Indiana, 
Knights  Templar,  and  of  Murat  Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine,  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 


^^*^'  atiuii  in  the 

xxii-  xia,5  ucen  located  at 

is.ush  r*~  111  uic  iiiaauiatture  of  sash,  doors  and 

uiiicr  r  IK.,  Qia  not  begin  his  connection  with  the  lumber 

industry  iii  that  capacity.    He  was  first  engaged  in  the  business 

of  m  lumber  itself.    After  this  came  the  manufac- 

>rs  and  blinds,  with  which  he  has  been  so 

His  ability  and  natural  aptitude  for 

others  in  his  lent  of 

g  stand- 

r  of  sawmills 

be  simply  a 

led  this  title  as 

The  institution  to 

iOn  is  one  of  t  gcst 

,  and  generally  is  accredited 

The  economy  of  production, 

aipment  and  design  and  construc- 

at  this  mill  have  made  a  reputation 

ft  is  thp  modest  boast  of  tb'*  R^d- 

•'«»  cKinped  their  f^  f^ 

ifi-  ivlr.  Radfo:  VI  ^. <  .IV  VI 

cally  ..».  1  jWA'M-isn  one  of  the  prime 


CHARLES    WILLIAM     RAD.FORD 


Charles  W.  Radford 


Many  figures  in  the  lumber  history  of  this  country  stand 
out  in  bold  relief,  just  as  a  commander  and  his  aides  are  sil- 
houetted against  the  dark  background  of  the  rank  and  file. 
In  that  department  of  the  industry  which  is  devoted  to  the 
manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds,  etc.,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent is  Charles  William  Radford,  of  Oshkosh,  Wisconsin. 
''Radford,"  "Oshkosh"  and  "millwork"  are  closely  related 
terms  and  bear  something  of  a  synonymous  relation  in  the 
minds  of  many  buyers  and  users  of  millwork. 

Mr.  Radford,  who,  as  is  well  known,  has  been  located  at 
Oshkosh  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors  and 
other  millwork,  did  not  begin  his  connection  with  the  lumber 
industry  in  that  capacity.  He  was  first  engaged  in  the  business 
of  manufacturing  lumber  itself.  After  this  came  the  manufac- 
ture of  sash,  doors  and  blinds,  with  which  he  has  been  so 
prominently  identified.  His  ability  and  natural  aptitude  for 
business  were  recognized  by  others  in  his  management  of 
milling  operations,  as  was  also  his  judgment  in  buying  stand- 
ing timber  and  in  the  location  and  management  of  sawmills 
and  logging  operations.  He  himself  claims  to  be  simply  a 
sash  and  door  maker.  He  has,  perhaps,  earned  this  title  as 
has  no  other  man  engaged  in  the  business.  The  institution  to 
which  he  has  given  his  especial  attention  is  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  managed  in  the  country,  and  generally  is  accredited 
with  being  a  profitable  one.  The  economy  of  production, 
perfection  in  mechanical  equipment  and  design  and  construc- 
tion of  the  stock  turned  out  at  this  mill  have  made  a  reputation 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  is  the  modest  boast  of  the  Rad- 
ford associated  interests  that  they  have  shipped  their  products 
into  every  state  and  territory  in  the  Union.  Mr.  Radford  practi- 
cally has  created  this  business  and  has  been  one  of  the  prime 

377 


378  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

movers  in  bringing  Oshkosh  prominently  before  the  trade  as 
the  originating  point  of  all  kinds  of  high  class  millwork.  He 
has  achieved  this  success  almost  exclusively  by  his  own  efforts, 
controlled  by  a  resourceful  mind. 

As  the  name  signifies,  Mr.  Radford  is  of  English  parentage. 
He  was  born  in  1853  in  Oneida  County,  New  York.  His 
parents,  William  and  Elizabeth  Radford,  reached  this  country 
in  1852,  making  Prospect,  New  York,  their  home.  There  the 
elder  Radford  engaged  in  lumbering.  In  1855  he  moved  to 
Wisconsin,  where  for  sixteen  years  he  worked  for  others  at 
logging  and  lumbering.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  or  in  1871, 
a  modest  sum  had  been  saved  and,  with  his  brother  Stephen, 
he  formed  the  firm  of  S.  Radford  &  Bro.  and  bought  an  in- 
terest in  a  sawmill.  This  mill  had  a  capacity  of  about  40,000 
feet  a  day,  and  is  still  in  operation,  though  many  changes  have 
been  made  in  it  since  then  and  it  is  now  considered  one  of  the 
best  milling  plants  in  that  city. 

A  complete  sash,  door,  bUnd  and  moulding  factory  was 
added  to  this  mill  in  1879,  which,  also,  has  been  operating 
successfully  ever  since.  Its  early  output  was  150,000  doors, 
200,000  sash  and  25,000  pairs  of  blinds  a  year.  Later,  in  1890, 
a  branch  office  was  established  in  Chicago,  of  which  William 
A.  Radford,  a  brother  of  Charles  W.  Radford,  has  charge. 

In  such  surroundings  as  those  above  described,  Charles 
Radford  began  his  life,  and,  it  might  be  said,  absorbed 
much  of  the  information  that  has  later  been  of  such  use  and 
value  to  him,  and  his  early  life  amid  these  surroundings  gave 
him  a  working  knowledge  that  came  not  only  from  hearsay 
but  from  actual  inspection  of  and  connection  with  the  indus- 
try. His  education  was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of 
Oshkosh.  His  vacations  and  spare  time  were  employed  in 
work  in  practically  every  part  of  the  sawmill,  and  in  this  way 
he  added  to  his  knowledge  of  the  business  and  became  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  it.  When  his  father  and  uncle  bought 
the  mill  in  1871,  Charles  was  put  in  command  of  nearly  every 
department  successively,  and  continued  in  the  employ  of  his 


CHARLES  W.  RADFORD  379 

father's  firm  until  1881,  when  he  was  given  a  partnership  in 
the  business  and  the  firm  name  was  changed  to  Radford  Bros. 
&Co. 

His  influence  upon  the  business  thus  established  increased 
as  the  years  passed  by,  and  he  is  today,  and  has  been  for  many 
years,  the  controlling  spirit.  He  has  been  engaged  in  numer- 
ous timber  and  lumber  operations  in  northern  Wisconsin,  and 
in  all  these  matters  has  shown  his  ability,  which  has  been  the 
predominating  trait  in  his  character  since  his  boyhood.  An 
instance  showing  one  of  his  characteristics  is  the  fact  that  the 
Radford  company's  plant  has  never  been  operated  at  night. 
It  runs  twelve  months  in  the  year  and  turns  out  a  tremendous 
amount  of  work,  but  Mr.  Radford  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
day  is  the  time  in  which  to  work  and  night  should  be  used  for 
recuperation  alone. 

While  all  manner  of  products  that  are  manufactured  by 
similar  concerns  are  produced  at  this  plant,  Mr.  Radford 
makes  a  specialty  of  doors,  and  particularly  front  doors.  These 
are  made  up  in  special  designs  drawn  by  experts  for  the  com- 
pany. They  are  Mr.  Radford's  pets,  and  as  such  have  been 
given  names  embracing  persons  and  events  of  world-wide  im- 
port. During  the  Spanish-American  War  such  names  as  Lu- 
zon, Ponce,  Admiral,  Teddy,  etc.,  were  used,  and  these  names, 
being  on  the  lips  of  every  one,  attracted  to  the  doors  attention 
that,  perhaps,  they  would  not  have  achieved  in  any  other  way. 

While  a  public-spirited  man  in  every  sense  of  that  term, 
Mr.  Radford  has  not  sought  political  recognition  as  a  reward 
for  his  counsels  or  the  support  that  he  has  given.  Several 
positions  of  a  political  nature  have  been  forced  upon  him,  but 
they  have  not  been  of  a  very  remunerative  character.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  park,  police  and  fire  boards  and  is  a 
trustee  of  the  public  library  of  Oshkosh.  He  has  been  a  con- 
sistent Republican  and  has  done  much  to  promote  the  success 
of  his  party  in  his  State. 

Some  idea  of  Mr.  Radford's  business  interests  may  be 
gleaned  from  a  list  of  the  offices  he  holds.    He  is  president  of 


380  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

the  Radford  Sash  &  Door  Company,  of  Chicago;  president  of 
the  Western  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Chicago ;  president 
of  the  Berlin  Gas  Company,  Berlin,  Wisconsin;  president  of 
the  Wilkin-Challoner  Company,  of  Oshkosh,  which  manufac- 
tures the  Wilkin  steam  gang  and  nigger,  steam  set  works  and 
all  kinds  of  sawmill  machinery;  vice  president  and  director  of 
the  new  German-American  Bank,  of  Oshkosh;  vice  president 
of  the  Radford  Architectural  Company,  of  Chicago,  and  vice 
president  of  the  American  Carpenter  &  Builder  Publishing 
Company,  of  Chicago.  In  September,  1905,  Mr.  Radford 
opened  at  Duluth,  Minnesota,  a  jobbing  house  under  the  style 
of  the  Radford  Company,  and  of  this  he  is  the  chief  owner. 

He  belongs  to  all  of  the  Masonic  bodies,  including  Knights 
Templar,  and  for  many  years  has  been  an  enthusiastic  Mason. 

Mr.  Radford  married,  in  1882,  Miss  Nettie  J.  HaflF,  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  Franklin  R.  HafJ,  who  was  for  many  years 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Oshkosh.  Four  boys  —  Frank  W., 
Charles  Weston,  Daniel  H.  and  Edward  P.  Radford  —  of  all 
of  whom  the  father  is  justly  proud,  comprise  their  interesting 
family. 


>  tn  .... 

1  arc  -.      These 

.-.i   8uct  ^.d   have  no 

np    It  xxrhirh    hr  [   nOt  OF   did   HOt  win. 

•"CSS  field  which  has 

^ ''m  is  in  winning 

or  numerous — 


I) 


c  inisunder- 
lence  in 
Ic  of  the 


siun,  he  ta 
samr 

cs  or 


QCTO^aAH    noaiaoA   mai_i-iiw 


VVIl_L.IAM     ADDISON     RADFORD 


William  A.  Radford 


A  type  of  restless  mentality,  ambition  and  physical  vigor, 
coupled  with  a  thoughtful  and  sound  judgment  which  makes 
enterprise  safe  and  effort  consecutive,  is  William  A.  Radford, 
of  Chicago.  His  vocation  is  the  wholesaling  of  sash  and  doors, 
in  which  he  has  attained  no  small  degree  of  success  and 
achieved  more  than  local  reputation,  but  he  has  numerous 
avocations.  Some  of  them  are  altruistic,  as  when  he  accepts 
local  office,  to  which,  for  the  benefit  of  the  community,  he 
devotes  the  same  intelligence  and  energy  he  displays  in  his 
own  business.  Some  of  them  are  of  a  business  sort.  These 
latter  he  directs  to  financial  success.  He  would  have  no 
patience  with  a  game  at  which  he  could  not  or  did  not  win. 
If  the  game  be  a  venture  into  some  business  field  which  has 
attracted  his  attention,  the  charm  of  it  for  him  is  in  winning 
success  against  obstacles,  however  formidable  or  numerous — 
and  win  he  must. 

The  phrase,  restless  mentality,  should  not  be  misunder- 
stood. There  is  nothing  of  fickleness  or  inconsequence  in 
Mr.  Radford's  makeup.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  capable  of  the 
most  intense  and  continued  application.  Indeed,  having  once 
taken  up  a  subject,  he  is  compelled  by  his  very  nature  to  think 
it  out  in  all  its  phases  and  ramifications.  But,  having  worked 
out  a  subject  to  a  conclusion,  he  turns  at  once  to  some  other, 
which  is  followed  with  the  same  pertinacity  and  mental  con- 
centration.    There  are  no  mental  loafing  spells  with  him. 

While  ambitious,  the  objects  of  his  ambition  are  not  all  of 
a  mercenary  sort.  He  seems  to  have  no  desire  for  great  wealth. 
In  a  matter  where  financial  profit  is  the  necessary  token  of  suc- 
cess, he  insists  on  a  money  return  ;  but  he  will  devote  the  same 
energy  and  enthusiasm  to  an  enterprise  the  nature  of  which  is 
not  reached  along  the  ordinary  business  path.     That  he  has 


881 


382  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

other  interests  than  those  of  a  purely  business  character  is  still 
further  evidenced  by  his  private  library.  He  has  a  fondness 
for  rare  and  old  books,  as  well  as  for  the  standard  works  of 
literature,  and  many  curious  old  volumes,  yellow  with  age,  are 
to  be  found  in  his  home. 

WilHam  Addison  Radford  was  born  in  Oshkosh,  Wiscon- 
sin, September  14,  1865.  His  father  and  mother,  William  and 
EHzabeth  Radford,  came  to  the  United  States  from  England 
in  1852,  setthng  first  at  Prospect,  New  York,  where  his  father 
engaged  in  lumbering.  Three  years  later  William  Radford 
moved  with  his  family  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  engaged  in 
logging  and  lumbering  operations  on  behalf  of  others  until 
1871.  In  that  year  he  and  his  brother,  Stephen  Radford, 
formed  the  firm  of  S.  Radford  &  Bro.,  and  purchased  an  in- 
terest in  a  sawmill  in  Oshkosh,  which  afterward  became  widely 
known  especially  for  the  prominent  share  it  took  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  band  saw  as  a  tool  for  cutting  logs.  Since  then 
many  changes  have  been  made  in  the  equipment,  and  the  mill, 
still  in  operation,  is  now  one  of  the  best  modern  sawmill  plants 
in  that  city.  A  son  of  William  Radford,  Charles  W.  Radford, 
was  taken  into  partnership  in  1881  and  the  firm  name  changed 
to  Radford  Bros.  &  Co.,  which  is  still  the  title  under  which  a 
vastly  larger  business  is  now  conducted.  Previous  to  that  date 
—in  1879— a  complete  sash,  door,  blind  and  moulding  factory 
was  added  to  the  plant,  and  today  the  products  of  this  factory 
have  a  wide  reputation. 

WiUiam  A.  Radford  attended  the  public  schools  until  he 
was  fifteen  years  old,  graduating  at  that  age  from  the  magnifi- 
cent high  school  of  Oshkosh.  As  was  natural  for  a  youth  born 
and  reared  in  a  lumber  town  and  having  a  father  and  brother 
in  the  lumber  business,  he  immediately  turned  to  the  lumber 
industry  for  occupation.  His  first  employment  was  with  Rad- 
ford Bros.  &  Co.,  of  Oshkosh,  as  clerk  in  their  office.  He 
remained  with  this  firm  six  years,  and  in  1886  accepted  a 
position  with  a  Wichita  sash  and  door  company,  of  Wichita, 
Kansas,  as  the  secretary.     This  was  a  concern  affiliated  with 


WILLIAM  A.  RADFORD  383 

Radford  Bros.  &  Co.  He  remained  in  this  capacity  until  1889, 
when  he  severed  his  connection  with  this  company  to  enter 
a  larger  field  in  Chicago. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  sash  and  door  factory  owners 
awoke  to  a  realization  of  the  special  advantages  enjoyed  by  the 
jobbing  houses  located  at  central  points  where  they  had  better 
shipping  facilities,  lower  freight  rates  and  stood  better  chances 
of  getting  cars  than  at  the  factories  located  at  lumber  produc- 
ing points.  These  jobbing  houses  bought  in  bulk  lots  from 
the  factories,  and  from  their  stocks  at  central  points  thus  se- 
cured redistributed  goods  in  carload  lots  or  less  to  the  retail 
trade  throughout  the  country.  Many  of  the  manufacturers 
wished  to  share  this  advantage,  and  among  them  were  Radford 
Bros.  &  Co.  For  the  purpose,  therefore,  of  having  a  centrally 
located  warehouse  and  business  organization  from  and  through 
which  to  ship  their  product  more  quickly  and  to  better  advan- 
tage and  to  be  relieved  from  the  almost  entire  dependance  upon 
jobbers,  Radford  Bros.  &  Co.  established  the  Radford  Sash  & 
Door  Company  in  Chicago,  in  June,  1890.  The  officers  of 
the  company  were  as  follows :  Charles  W.  Radford,  president ; 
Stephen  Radford,  vice  president;  William  A.  Radford,  secre- 
tary and  treasurer.  William  A.  Radford  is  still  occupying 
these  offices. 

He  is  also  president  of  the  William  A.  Radford  Company, 
of  Chicago,  organized  early  in  the  summer  of  1906.  He  was 
the  principal  incorporator  of  this  concern,  which  does  busi- 
ness as  a  wholesaler  of  sash  and  doors.  The  above  includes 
Mr.  Radford's  direct  connection  with  the  sash  and  door  trade, 
but  his  business  interests  do  not  end  here,  for  he  is  at  the  head 
of  the  affairs  of  three  other  companies  also  located  in  Chicago. 
He  is  president  of  the  Radford  Architectural  Company,  presi- 
dent and  treasurer  of  the  American  Carpenter  and  Builder,  a 
publication  whose  field  is  indicated  by  its  name,  and  president 
of  the  Farm  Press  Publishing  Company. 

The  Radford  home  was  for  thirteen  years  at  Riverside,  a 
beautiful  southwestern  suburb  of  Chicago,  but  in    1905   the 


384  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

family  residence  was  changed  to  5006  Drexel  Boulevard, 
Chicago.  Mr.  Radford  takes  no  active  interest  in  politics, 
but  has  been  ready  to  serve  his  neighbors  on  demand,  and  so 
during  his  residence  in  Riverside  he  was  president  and  trustee 
of  the  village.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Riverside  State 
Bank  and  in  the  American  Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Radford's  secret  society  affiliations  are  confined  to 
Masonry,  in  which  he  has  taken  the  thirty-second  degree. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers,  in  1901,  of  Riverside  Lodge 
No.  862,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Riverside,  where  he  then  resided. 
He  was  made  the  first  Master  of  the  lodge  under  dispensation 
until  the  charter  was  obtained,  when  he  was  regularly  elected 
to  the  office  and  served  as  Master.  He  is  now  Past  Master  of 
this  lodge. 

In  his  religious  affiliations  Mr.  Radford  inclines  toward 
the  Presbyterian  faith  and  is  an  attendant  of  that  church.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Union  League,  the  leading  social-business 
club  of  Chicago.  He  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  particular 
fad  or  recreation  unless  it  be  found  in  his  variety  of  interests 
and  work.  He  is  a  sash  and  door  man  by  inheritance,  breed- 
ing and  taste  and  finds  his  greatest  pleasure  in  that  business, 
but  he  is  also  much  interested  in  the  publishing  business, 
which  may  be  considered  his  avocation.  He  takes  a  justifiable 
pride  in  the  success  of  the  American  Carpenter  and  Builder,  which 
he  established  in  1904,  but  which  already  has  a  circulation  run- 
ning high  into  the  thousands.  This  is  an  achievement  some- 
what remarkable,  for  it  points  out  one  of  the  great  successes  in 
class  journalism  achieved  by  a  man  whose  chief  experience 
had  been  in  entirely  different  channels.  It  is  a  demonstration, 
however,  of  Mr.  Radford's  energy  and  mental  versatility. 

Mr.  Radford  married,  on  June  17,  1890,  Miss  Helen  M. 
Manuel,  at  Wichita,  Kansas.  Two  sons  have  been  born  to 
them — Roland  Dickerman,  aged  fourteen,  and  William  A. 
Radford,  Junior,  aged  twelve  years.  William  is  attending  a 
private  school  in  Chicago  and  Roland  is  a  student  at  the  Mili- 
tary Academy  at  Highland  Park,  Illinois. 


Thomas  Munroc 


a  man  a 


AAa    t. 


a. 


ss  history  oi  inai  ciiy  ana  on  ihc 
ot  tliat  section  of  his  State  a  record  of  achievc- 
wiii  long  survive. 
Thomas  Munroe  was  born  at  KushviJie,  Schuyler  County, 
Illinois,  October  26,  1844.     One  branch  of  his  ancestors  had 
come  to  this  country  in  1650.     They  and  their  descendants 
settled  in  Connecticut,  New  York,  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
T  oe,  Senior,  his  father,  was  a  physician  and  sur- 

geon who,  after  a  few  years  of  practice  in  his  profession  at  Bal- 

in  1834  to  Jacksonville.  Illinois,  and 

)i. 

c, 

the 

rn 

m 
..,xt  to  the  cld- 

.ided  the  district 

w.^cred  the  Illinois  Wes- 
'  "^    where  he  remained 
'    '^  years  as  a  clerk 
III  4  -esigned  that 

p  -ntcrcd  the 

ofncc  01  -  rt,  with 

v^ '  '^^^^  ^^  ^^^  books 


I  OH  i' 


^,^    3AM^w-r 


THOMAS     MUNROE 


Thomas   Munroe 


When  a  man  adds  to  a  life  of  activity  a  clean  record  as  a 
public  servant,  he  leaves  behind  him  a  biography  almost  ideal. 
Such  a  life  v^as  terminated  at  Muskegon,  Michigan,  October 
17,  1906,  w^hen  Thomas  Munroe,  superintendent,  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  Thayer  Lumber  Company,  passed  away 
after  a  brave  fight  against  an  illness  of  several  months'  duration. 
He  left  engraved  on  the  business  history  of  that  city  and  on  the 
political  history  of  that  section  of  his  State  a  record  of  achieve- 
ment that  v^ill  long  survive. 

Thomas  Munroe  was  born  at  Rushville,  Schuyler  County, 
Illinois,  October  26,  1844.  ^^^  branch  of  his  ancestors  had 
come  to  this  country  in  1650.  They  and  their  descendants 
settled  in  Connecticut,  New  York,  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
Thomas  Munroe,  Senior,  his  father,  was  a  physician  and  sur- 
geon who,  after  a  few  years  of  practice  in  his  profession  at  Bal- 
timore, Maryland,  moved  in  1834  ^^  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and 
in  1843  to  Rushville  in  the  same  State.  He  died  April  23,1891. 
Thomas  Munroe's  mother,  Mrs.  Annis  (Hinman)  Munroe, 
was  the  only  daughter  of  Benjamin  Hinman,  who  held  the 
rank  of  major  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  Mrs.  Munroe,  born 
in  1815,  passed  away  February  6,  1905. 

To  this  excellent  couple  were  born  seven  children,  of  whom 
Thomas  Munroe,  the  future  lumberman,  was  next  to  the  eld- 
est, who  died  in  infancy.  As  a  boy  he  attended  the  district 
schools,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  entered  the  Illinois  Wes- 
leyan  College  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where  he  remained 
about  two  years.  Subsequently,  he  spent  six  years  as  a  clerk 
in  a  general  store  at  Rushville,  but  in  1870  he  resigned  that 
position  and  went  to  Muskegon.  He  immediately  entered  the 
office  of  L.  G.  Mason  &  Co.,  lumber  manufacturers,  with 
whom  he  remained  eight  years,  at  first  in  charge  of  the  books 

385 


386  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

and  other  office  affairs  and  later  as  manager  of  the  outside  work. 

In  February,  1878,  Nathaniel  Thayer,  of  Boston,  succeeded 
to  the  ownership  of  the  manufacturing  plant  and  property  of 
L.  G.  Mason  &  Co.,  and  Mr.  Munroe  was  placed  in  charge 
as  superintendent.  At  first  the  mill  was  operated  as  a  custom 
mill,  but  gradually  the  business  was  enlarged  by  the  purchase 
of  logs  and  timber  under  Mr.  Munroe's  management.  In 
1881  Mr.  Thayer  organized  the  Thayer  Lumber  Company,  a 
corporation,  to  which  he  conveyed  the  property  formerly 
owned  by  L.  G.  Mason  &  Co.  The  history  of  the  Thayer 
Lumber  Company  under  Mr.  Munroe's  management  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  remarkable  records  to  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  the  lumber  industry  of  the  United  States.  The  com- 
pany has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  that  has  ever  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  in  Michigan,  and  this  result  was 
due  wholly  to  the  intelligent  management  and  indomitable 
energy  of  the  company's  superintendent,  who  gave  it  his  most 
faithful  service. 

The  company  operates  at  Muskegon  two  mills,  one  of  which 
was  built  by  L.  G.  Mason  &  Co.  in  1864,  and  the  other  pur- 
chased from  Bigelow  &  Co.  in  the  winter  of  1887.  These 
two  mills  have  a  combined  annual  capacity  of  approximately 
50,000,000  feet  of  lumber.  The  company  has  been  a  very 
large  shipper  by  rail,  the  product  going  chiefly  to  the  East  and 
Southeast.  It  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  building  logging 
railroads  for  carrying  logs  to  the  river  or  mills. 

The  company  originally  had  large  holdings  of  timber  in 
Newaygo  and  Missaukee  counties.  This  source  of  supply 
became  exhausted  and,  in  the  fall  of  1896,  the  mills  blew  a 
final  blast  which  was  supposed  to  signify  the  termination  of  the 
company's  operations.  Mr.  Munroe,  however,  had  been  ad- 
vising the  company  to  acquire  more  timber.  He  went  to  Bos- 
ton in  1896  to  urge  the  officers  in  that  behalf,  but  political  and 
industrial  conditions  were  such  that  the  stockholders  were  re- 
luctant to  engage  in  further  investments.  The  most  notable 
achievement  of  the  company,  however,  occurred  in  the  year 


THOMAS  MUNROE  387 

following,  when  Mr.  Munroe  induced  the  Boston  people  to 
make  a  purchase  of  the  famous  Canfield  tract  in  Kalkaska 
County.  In  January,  1897,  the  purchase  was  made,  the  price 
paid  being  $1,250,000,  at  that  time  one  of  the  largest  transac- 
tions in  the  history  of  the  lumber  industry  in  Michigan.  These 
holdings  were  augmented  by  subsequent  purchases  in  the  same 
territory.  The  wisdom  of  Mr.  Munroe's  recommendation 
has  long  been  demonstrated,  for  the  profits  estimated  by  him 
have  been  exceeded  many  times  by  the  actual  results.  Logs 
are  brought  from  these  tracts  of  timber  by  rail  a  distance  of 
200  miles,  and  are  manufactured  by  the  company's  mills  in 
Muskegon. 

The  interests  of  the  Thayer  Lumber  Company  were  han- 
dled by  Mr.  Munroe  with  absorbing  intensity  and  success, 
notwithstanding  which  he  had  become  prominent  in  other 
lines  of  business  and  in  the  shaping  of  public  policies  in  his 
city  and  state.  He  was  for  many  years  a  stockholder  and  direc- 
tor of  the  Muskegon  Booming  Company,  its  treasurer  for  four 
years,  and  in  1888  was  elected  its  secretary.  Mr.  Munroe  was 
one  of  the  incorporators,  in  1880,  of  the  Munroe  Manufac- 
turing Company;  he  was  one  of  its  principal  stockholders 
and  its  president  and  general  manager.  This  company  oper- 
ated a  planing  mill  during  a  successful  career  of  more  than 
twenty  years,  and  at  the  height  of  its  activity  it  ranked  as  one 
of  the  largest  concerns  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Munroe  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Munroe  &  Bri- 
nen,  dealers  in  logs  and  lumber,  and  was  interested  in  vessel 
property  also.  He  was  interested  in  many  other  prominent 
business  institutions,  having  been  president  of  the  Hackley 
National  Bank,  vice  president  of  the  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon 
Power  Company,  president  of  the  Newcastle  Box  Company, 
vice  president  of  the  Indiana  Box  Company,  president  of  the 
Michigan  Washing  Machine  Company  and  a  director  of  the 
Muskegon  Valley  Furniture  Company,  Sargent  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Grand  Rapids  Desk  Company,  Quinn  Supply 
Company,  Muskegon  Traction  &  Lighting  Company  and  Citi- 


388  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

zens'  Telephone  Company.  He  was  for  more  than  eight  years 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of  Muskegon, 
serving  a  greater  part  of  that  time  as  its  secretary. 

Mr.  Munroe  was  made  a  Mason  in  Rushville  Lodge  No.  9, 
Illinois,  May  29,  1869.  After  his  removal  to  Muskegon  he 
affiliated  with  Lovell  Moore  Lodge  No.  182,  February  21, 
1877.  He  held  the  office  of  Senior  Warden  in  1880  and  1881 
and  that  of  Worshipful  Master  in  1882,  1883,  1884  and  1888. 
He  was  a  member  of  Muskegon  Chapter  No.  47,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  and  its  Excellent  High  Priest  from  1892  to  1895  i"" 
elusive ;  he  was  also  a  member  of  Muskegon  Council  No.  54, 
Royal  and  Select  Masters.  He  became  a  Knight  Templar  in 
1878  and  was  a  member  of  Muskegon  Commandery  No.  22. 
He  was  its  eminent  Commander  in  1889  and  1891.  He  also 
received  all  the  degrees  of  the  Ancient  Accepted  &  Scottish 
Rite,  and  held  the  office  of  Illustrious  Commander-in-Chief  of 
Dewitt  Clinton  Consistory  in  1903,  1904  and  1905.  Septem- 
ber 20,  1898,  he  received  the  thirty-third  degree  and  was  made 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Supreme  Council  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 

Mr.  Munroe  married,  June  19,  1872,  Miss  Kathrine  A. 
Jones,  daughter  of  John  R.  Jones,  of  Remsen,  Oneida  County, 
New  York.  They  had  no  children.  He  had  one  sister — Miss 
Mary  A.  Munroe,  of  Rushville,  Illinois — and  four  brothers — 
James  E.  Munroe,  of  Chicago,  Illinois;  Hinman  Munroe  and 
Charles  G.  Munroe,  of  Rushville,  Illinois,  and  William  Mun- 
roe, of  Muskegon,  Michigan. 

In  politics  Mr.  Munroe  was  an  active,  uncompromising, 
influential  Republican.  As  a  citizen  he  stood  high  in  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow  men  as  a  sagacious,  far-sighted  business 
man,  broad-minded  and  progressive  in  everything  that  con- 
cerns the  public  welfare,  liberal  and  generous  in  his  charities, 
fair  and  discriminating  in  his  counsel.  The  intelligent,  unre- 
lenting performance  of  duty  was  ever  his  most  prominent  char- 
acteristic. His  loyalty  to  his  friends  challenged  admiration 
equal  to  that  inspired  by  his  devotion  to  duty. 


-^    ^ .  :h  loc         irgc 

ted  horizon  is  thCj_^ _.,.uy  of  Maryland. 

three-quarters  of  a  century  it  has  furnished 
m^  'r^'-^''^-*^ -ind  in  public  life.     It  has  furnished 

•v  ^u..  c,,k;*>^f  ^f  this  sketch,  a 

^-""'""^ssional 
family 


3  name 

I. 

A' no 
n 

'C 

It 

it 
>f 

v 


r- 
r 
d 


HOe><OAL     eV3«He,MUH     MAlJ^.w 


Wll_l_IAM     HUMPHREYS    JACKSON 


William  H.  Jackson 


In  the  United  States  are  many  families  that  for  generations 
have  contributed  to  its  history,  and  usually  along  certain  well- 
defined  lines.  Some  produce  statesmen,  some  jurists,  some 
divines,  some  financiers,  and  some  are  possessed  of  a  sort  of 
universal  genius  which  produces  men  eminent  along  several 
different  lines.  Some  of  these  families  are  national  in  their 
fame,  such  as  the  Lees,  the  Adamses,  the  Randolphs,  the  Har- 
risons and  the  Fields. 

A  family  of  less  widespread  fame,  but  which  looms  large 
in  a  more  restricted  horizon  is  the  Jackson  family  of  Maryland. 
During  the  last  three-quarters  of  a  century  it  has  furnished 
men  prominent  in  business  and  in  public  life.  It  has  furnished 
a  Governor  of  the  State  and,  in  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  a 
representative  for  three  terms  from  the  First  Congressional 
District  of  Maryland.  Perhaps,  if  the  history  of  the  family 
were  more  minutely  gone  into,  it  might  be  found  that  its  name 
is  linked  with  other  Jacksons,  of  still  wider  fame.  But,  how- 
ever that  may  be,  the  descendants  of  Hugh  Jackson,  who 
was  born  October  i6,  1814,  near  Salisbury,  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland,  fill  a  large  place  in  the  political  life  of  the 
old  Cavalier  State,  and  in  business  are  renowned  not  only  at 
home  but  all  along  the  south  Atlantic  Coast . 

Hugh  Jackson  was  a  man  of  substance  and  standing  in  his 
time.  He  was  at  one  time  judge  of  the  Orphans'  Court  of 
the  County  of  Somerset  and  was  also  a  member  of  the  county 
school  board.  He  married  Sarah  McBride  Humphreys,  who 
bore  him  five  sons.  They  were  E.  E.  Jackson,  W.  H.  Jack- 
son, R.  W.  Jackson,  W.  F.  Jackson  and  I.  N.  Jackson,  who 
became  prominent  in  the  lumber  industry  of  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Alabama  and  other 
southern  states.     In  early  life  Hugh  Jackson  was  a  farmer  and 

389 


390  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

did  not  venture  into  general  business  until  1862,  when,  with 
his  oldest  son,  E.  E.  Jackson,  later  Governor  of  Maryland, 
he  entered  the  mercantile,  lumber  and  grain  business  under 
the  style  of  E.  E.  Jackson  &  Co.  Into  this  firm,  about  1863, 
as  a  young  man  of  twenty-four,  came  another  son,  William 
Humphreys  Jackson,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

William  Humphreys  Jackson  was  born  on  his  father's  farm 
near  Salisbury  October  13,  1839.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  public  schools  and  early  began  to  assist  his  father  on 
the  farm.  As  a  youth  he  began  to  buy  cattle  for  shipment 
North,  and  just  preceding  and  during  the  Civil  War  took  Gov- 
ernment contracts  for  the  supply  of  horses  and  mules.  Thus 
early  he  showed  his  mettle.  About  1863  he  joined  his  father 
and  brothers  in  E.  E.  Jackson  &  Co.,  at  Salisbury.  Lumber 
was  purchased  in  the  country  round  about  Salisbury,  which  at 
that  time  was  fairly  well  timbered  with  yellow  pine,  and  this, 
together  with  lumber  of  their  own  production,  was  handled 
through  the  Salisbury  plant  and  shipped  to  customers  in  Bal- 
timore, Philadelphia,  Washington  and  New  Jersey  points. 

E.  E.  Jackson  &  Co.  had  a  flooring  mill  at  Baltimore  and 
were  one  of  the  leading  business  houses  of  that  city.  In 
Washington,  D.  C,  they  had  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of 
flooring  and  fine  cabinet  wood  ware.  At  Salisbury,  Mary- 
land, they  manufactured  box  shooks  exclusively.  At  Whaley- 
ville,  Virginia,  they  had  a  sawmill  plant.  When  the  business 
was  divided  in  1889,  William  H.Jackson  and  his  son,  William 
P.  Jackson,  bought  the  factory  at  Salisbury  and  the  sawmill 
and  railroad  properties  at  Whaleyville,  Virginia.  The  other 
brothers  bought  the  Baltimore  and  Washington  mills. 

In  1894  the  Jackson  Bros.  Company  was  organized  to  take 
over  the  plants  and  business  at  Salisbury  and  Whaleyville.  Of 
this  company  W.  H.  Jackson  was  president;  W.  F.  Jackson, 
vice  president,  and  W.  P.  Jackson,  secretary  and  treasurer. 
In  March,  1903,  W.  F.  Jackson  died,  but  the  organization 
was  continued  under  the  same  name,  with  H.  B.  Phillips  as 
vice  president  in  place  of  the  deceased. 


WILLIAM  H.  JACKSON  391 

In  1894,  at  the  time  of  its  incorporation,  the  company 
bought  large  timber  tracts  in  North  Carolina  and  South  Caro- 
lina to  supply  the  mills  at  Whaleyville.  This  mill  is  a  famous 
one  in  the  history  of  the  North  Carolina  pine  industry.  Its 
capacity  is  200,000  feet  a  day  under  favorable  circumstances, 
being  equipped  with  three  bands  and  a  gang.  The  timber  is 
supplied  over  a  railroad  forty-five  miles  long,  owned  by  the 
company,  equipped  with  five  locomotives  and  130  logging  cars. 
The  product  is  put  into  condition  for  marketing  by  means  of 
twenty  brick  dry  kilns.  It  is,  in  every  department,  one  of  the 
finest  mill  plants  of  that  great  producing  section.  During  the 
last  thirty  years  the  Salisbury  institution,  now  operated  by  the 
Jackson  Bros.  Company,  has  supplied  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany with  the  boxes  for  its  export  oil. 

The  Salisbury  business  has  grown  to  large  proportions. 
The  plant  consists  of  a  box  shook  factory  and  planing  mill, 
with  a  combined  capacity  of  200,000  feet  of  lumber  a  day. 
The  equipment  consists  of  thirteen  planers  and  matchers,  two 
moulders,  five  gang  rip  saws  and  five  resaws,  besides  edgers, 
cutoff  saws,  etc.  One  of  the  features  of  this  great  plant  is  the 
lumber  shed  which  holds  7,000,000  feet  of  rough  and  dressed 
lumber.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  largest  single  lumber  shed 
in  the  country.  The  Salisbury  plant,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  re- 
manufacturing  and  distributing  establishment;  but  it  is  backed 
by  the  great  plant  at  Whaleyville  that  in  turn  is  based  upon 
standing  timber  in  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  which 
now  amounts  to  500,000,000  feet  and  is  being  constantly  added 
to  by  purchase. 

William  H.  Jackson  is  not  only  president  of  the  Jackson 
Bros.  Company,  but  is  also  president  of  the  Beaufort  County 
Lumber  Company,  which  is  practically  the  timber  holding 
company  of  the  former.  The  Jacksons  began  buying  their 
timber  in  1874  i"  Nansemond  County,  Virginia,  and  to  build 
a  railroad  which  was  the  first  in  the  South  to  be  used  exclu- 
sively for  lumbering  purposes.  It  started  at  Suffolk,  a  suburb 
of  Norfolk,  and  extended  to  the  Chowan  River,  North  Caro- 


392  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

lina.  This  was  during  the  life  of  the  firm  of  E.  E.  Jackson  & 
Co.,  which  cut  out  its  holdings  there  in  1888  and  dissolved,  as 
previously  stated,  by  mutual  agreement  in  1889,  at  which  time 
the  firm  of  W.  H.  Jackson  &  Son,  located  at  Salisbury,  Mary- 
land, took  over  the  plant  at  that  place. 

In  1886  Mr.  Jackson,  together  with  E.  E.  Jackson  and 
certain  Pennsylvania  business  friends,  began  buying  timber 
lands  in  Alabama  and  Florida,  and  later  organized  the  Jackson 
Lumber  Company,  of  Lockhart,  Alabama.  William  H.Jack- 
son was  president  of  this  company  and  W.  P.  Jackson  its  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  until  its  sale  in  1901  to  Messrs.  Crossett, 
Gates  brothers  and  Watzek,  of  Davenport,  Iowa.  At  the  time 
of  the  sale  the  company  owned  in  fee  simple  about  150,000 
acres  of  fine  timber  lands. 

Mr.  Jackson  is  a  director  of  the  Salisbury  National  Bank, 
of  which  his  son,  William  P.  Jackson,  is  president.  He  is  in- 
terested in  several  manufacturing  establishments  in  and  about 
Salisbury  and  is  president  of  the  Courier  Publishing  Com- 
pany, publisher  of  the  Courier^  a  weekly  paper  of  Salisbury. 

In  1863  William  H.  Jackson  married  Arabelle  Humphreys. 
They  had  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living.  One,  Mary 
Belle,  born  in  1874,  is  now  Mrs.  Josiah  Morvel,  and  the  other 
is  William  Purnell  Jackson,  born  January  11,  1868,  and  inti- 
mately associated  with  his  father  in  business. 

Mr.  Jackson  is  a  Methodist  in  his  church  affiliations  and  a 
Republican  in  politics.  As  such  he  has  thrice  been  elected  to 
Congress  from  the  first  district  of  Maryland,  being  successful 
in  1900,  1902  and  1906.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  life  member  of 
the  Salisbury  lodge.  In  1904  Mr.  Jackson  built  and  presented 
to  the  public,  through  the  directors  of  the  Peninsular  General 
Hospital,  a  large  brick  structure  to  accommodate  forty-five 
patients.  He  is  a  director  of  this  hospital,  of  whose  board  his 
son  is  president  and  who  furnished  the  hospital  throughout. 


Ferdi 


».  J  J ' 


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ivir.  ribciicr,  ana  no 
a  or  misunderstood.    He  was  a  i 
n^a  to  DC  taken  as  a  whole  to  receive  full  appre- 
c  a  well-cut  d*  '  ^''       .  ^j^q  j^^^ 

him  only  to  keep  the 

c  were  iikeiy  to  regard  him  simply  as 

a  c<:  1,  mathematically  exact  and  unsympathetic  en- 

tity, havmg  a  mind  only  for  precise  results.  But  from  a  point 
of  view  that  took  in  different  sides  of  his  character  until  he 
was  viewed  as  a  whole,  f  ing  the  simile,  the  presentation 

V  ^  crystallization  and  faultless 


-' ^  age 

.    sent  to  the  1  .-ia,  at 

m  that  State,  bu  ...e  when, 

^^ily  moved  t'^  '  a.     There 

sition  as  b-  m  of  Lay  & 


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FERDINAND    CARL.    FISCHER 


Ferdinand   C.  Fischer 


One  of  the  most  unique  and  admirable  characters  identified 
with  the  lumber  industry  was  Ferdinand  C.  Fischer,  of  Coal 
Grove,  Ohio,  who  died  September  lo,  1906.  Few  men  con- 
nected with  the  lumber  industry  have  established  so  individual 
a  place  for  themselves  as  had  Mr.  Fischer,  and  no  one  was 
more  variously  understood  or  misunderstood.  He  was  a  many- 
sided  man  who  had  to  be  taken  as  a  whole  to  receive  full  appre- 
ciation. Like  a  well-cut  diamond  he  was.  Those  who  met 
him  only  under  circumstances  that  required  him  to  keep  the 
cutting  point  in  evidence  were  likely  to  regard  him  simply  as 
a  coldly  logical,  mathematically  exact  and  unsympathetic  en- 
tity, having  a  mind  only  for  precise  results.  But  from  a  point 
of  view  that  took  in  different  sides  of  his  character  until  he 
was  viewed  as  a  whole,  following  the  simile,  the  presentation 
was  as  splendid  a  one  as  flawless  crystallization  and  faultless 
cutting  could  produce. 

Ferdinand  Carl  Fischer  was  a  son  of  Herman  Fischer,  who 
was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  and  came  to  this  country 
practically  a  political  exile  in  the  early  '40's.  His  mother  was 
Sarah  Sophia  (Turner)  Fischer,  a  descendant  of  a  celebrated 
Maryland  family  which  had  migrated  to  Ohio  at  an  early  date. 
The  young  couple  settled  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  there  on 
February  2,  1857,  Ferdinand  C.  Fischer  was  born.  At  the  age 
of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to  the  University  of  West  Virginia,  at 
Morgantown,  in  that  State,  but  gave  up  his  college  life  when, 
in  1876,  the  family  moved  to  Oil  City,  Pennsylvania.  There 
he  secured  a  position  as  bookkeeper  for  the  firm  of  Lay  & 
Moore,  lumber  dealers,  with  whom  he  remained  for  three 
years,  all  the  while  cherishing  the  idea  of  going  West,  where 
he  believed  the  opportunities  for  a  young  man  were  much 
greater  than  in  the  more  conventional  and  conservative  East. 

393 


394  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Through  correspondence  he  secured  a  position  as  manager 
of  a  yard  operated  by  the  Leidigh  &  Schullenberger  Lumber 
Company,  of  Osborne,  Kansas.  In  this  new  position,  for 
which  his  former  experience  had  well  qualified  him,  he  devel- 
oped marked  executive  ability,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  associates  of  the  late  M.  T.  Greene, 
of  the  Chicago  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Greene  offered  him 
the  position  of  bookkeeper  at  the  Des  Moines  (Iowa)  yard  of 
the  Chicago  Lumber  Company.  In  1883  he  was  made  man- 
ager of  this  yard,  which  position  he  retained  for  five  years, 
largely  increasing  the  volume  of  the  business  of  the  company 
in  that  city,  and  adding  greatly  to  his  experience.  In  1888 
Mr.  Fischer  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Chicago  Lumber 
Company  of  Denver,  Colorado,  becoming  vice  president  and 
general  manager  and  acquiring  a  considerable  amount  of  stock 
in  the  company.  Mr.  Fischer's  duties  gave  him  general  super- 
vision of  the  numerous  yards  in  Colorado  and  New  Mexico 
then  owned  and  operated  by  the  company. 

During  the  next  few  years  Mr.  Greene's  business  became 
somewhat  involved,  and  Mr.  Fischer  and  his  associates  took 
over  his  Denver  interest.  Finally,  Mr.  Greene's  affairs  led  to 
a  trusteeship  by  the  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  among 
the  institutions  taken  over  being  the  Yellow  Poplar  Lumber 
Company,  of  Coal  Grove,  Ohio.  This  company  had  incurred 
a  heavy  indebtedness  and  its  affairs  were  in  a  badly  tangled 
condition.  Mr.  Fischer  was  made  manager  and  treasurer  of 
the  company  and  to  him  was  given  the  task  of  bringing  order 
out  of  chaos.  In  a  short  time,  by  his  sound  judgment,  re- 
markable executive  ability  and  quiet  diplomacy,  he  had  made 
a  settlement  of  the  company's  indebtedness  to  the  bank,  put 
it  again  on  a  sound  basis,  and  taken  the  company  over  himself, 
becoming  president  and  chief  owner  of  the  stock,  and  for 
years  this  company  has  been  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  re- 
liable concerns  in  the  country. 

But  while  Mr.  Fischer  was  giving  his  attention  to  untan- 
gling the  aflfairs  of  the  Yellow  Poplar  Lumber  Company,  his 


FERDINAND  C.  FISCHER  395 

Denver  business,  to  which  he  had  been  unable  to  devote  any 
time  and  which  had  been  left  in  charge  of  subordinates,  had 
been  steadily  retrograding.  Finally,  the  concern  was  forced 
to  retire,  but  this  experience  only  served  to  emphasize  the 
sterling  qualities  of  Mr.  Fischer's  character.  In  a  few  years 
he  had  paid  every  dollar  of  its  indebtedness  and  vindicated  his 
reputation  for  scrupulous  integrity. 

After  Mr.  Fischer  secured  control  of  the  Yellow  Poplar 
Lumber  Company  its  operations  were  widened  and  diversified 
and  its  business  and  timber  holdings  were  largely  increased. 
One  of  the  more  recent  deals  involved  29,000  acres  rich  in 
poplar.  As  a  commercial  genius  and  business  executive,  Mr. 
Fischer  had  few  equals  in  the  business  world,  and  his  ability 
was  exemplified  in  the  perfect  business  organization  which  has 
so  efficiently  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Yellow  Poplar  Lum- 
ber Company  and  its  other  interests  in  the  mountain  districts. 
Leon  Isaacson,  vice  president,  is  in  charge  of  the  timber  and 
logging  operations  of  the  company,  while  C.  M.  Crawford, 
secretary  and  treasurer,  gives  his  attention  to  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  the  lumber.  These  two  gentlemen,  with  Mr. 
Fischer  as  the  company's  head,  for  many  years  controlled  the 
business  of  the  Yellow  Poplar  Lumber  Company,  one  of  the 
most  successful  manufacturing  concerns  in  the  United  States, 
and,  perhaps,  the  largest  of  its  kind. 

Mr.  Fischer's  own  business  ventures  were  partly  in  connec- 
tion with  those  of  the  Yellow  Poplar  Lumber  Company  and 
partly  independent,  and  among  other  carefully  thought-out  in- 
vestments was  one  in  the  Guerrero  Iron  &  Timber  Company, 
with  extensive  and  valuable  land  holdings  in  the  State  of  Guer- 
rero, Mexico.  In  this  company  he  was  associated  with  a  num- 
ber of  leading  lumbermen  and  capitalists  of  the  eastern  part 
of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Fischer  was  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  the 
Hardwood  Manufacturers'  Association  of  the  United  States, 
and  also  occupied  a  prominent  place,  though  not  officially,  in 
the  councils  of  other  lumber  associations,  particularly  the  Na- 


396  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

tional  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association.  His  time  and 
money  were  freely  expended  in  their  behalf,  and  his  counsel 
was  potent  with  them.  He  was  a  believer  in  the  broad  prin- 
ciple that  he  could  best  serve  his  own  interests  by  promoting 
the  welfare  of  his  associates  and  competitors  in  business. 

Mr.  Fischer  was  married  at  Ashland,  Kentucky,  June  30, 
1896,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Ringo,  a  daughter  of  Willis  L.  Ringo, 
who  was  Secretary  of  State  at  the  time  Governor  Bucknow 
was  in  office.  Two  children  were  born  to  the  couple — Sarah 
Elizabeth,  now  nine  years  of  age,  and  Ferdinand  Carl,  Junior, 
seven  years  old. 

Mr.  Fischer  had  his  warm  friends  and,  perhaps,  his  ene- 
mies, but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  was  an  enemy  to  any  man,  for  his 
mind  was  too  logical  and  his  self-control  too  great  to  allow  him 
to  cherish  antagonisms.  He  was  a  genial  companion  and  a 
most  loyal  friend,  and  yet  was  intrinsically  reticent.  He  made 
acquaintance  readily,  but  was  slow  to  give  his  friendship ;  but 
once  given,  that  friendship  was  not  to  be  turned  aside.  His 
reticence  arose  from  the  very  analytical  quality  of  his  mind. 
He  would  express  no  opinion  until  he  had  one,  and  formed 
no  opinion  until  he  had  studied  a  subject  in  all  its  bearings. 

Added  to  his  remarkable  intellectual  qualities — to  that  hon- 
esty with  himself  which  was  one  of  his  chief  characteristics  and 
which  permitted  him  to  cherish  no  illusions  and  admit  no  delu- 
sions— was  his  honesty  with  others.  His  word  was  given  no 
more  readily  than  his  bond,  but  once  given  it  was  as  good  as 
his  bond  and,  perhaps,  a  little  better.  With  a  mind  so  consti- 
tuted as  was  his,  good  faith  was  inevitable.  With  his  friends 
he  was  unswervingly  loyal  and  unselfishly  generous. 


Ed 


iity 

he 

.)  lan- 

.a  me  longue  is  tapaDie  vviii  not  create  a  dollar 

ot  income  in  any  commercial  pursuit ;  will  not  grow  a  blade 

of  grass,  win  a  battle,  or  fell  a  tree.     The  men  who  talk  about 

doing  things  are  well  enough  in  their  way,  as  Shakespeare 

intimates,  but  the  men  who  do  and  act  arc  the  ones  whom  the 


time  IS  Li 

necessary  ^ 


— ^  in  work  as 

-.n   to   demand   f^'- 
«:oon. 

^^f  prominence  •" 
*^' "th  who   \. 


r ' 


neSa,  '  .c  diiiuuiiL  oi 

i,  3 


EDMOND     FAIRFIE:1_D     DODGE! 


Edmond  F.  Dodge 


'Tls  a  kind  of  good  deed  to  say  well ; 
And  yet  words  are  no  deeds. 

So  wrote,  more  than  two  centuries  ago,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished playwright  of  any  age. 

Human  nature  has  always  been  the  same  since  the  creation, 
and  yet  so  far  as  is  known  no  man  had  so  cleverly  and  suc- 
cinctly expressed  one  of  the  most  common  foibles  of  humanity 
— which  is  for  a  man  to  set  forth  in  pompous  phrase  what  he 
intends  to  do,  and  then  do  nothing.  All  the  high-flown  lan- 
guage of  which  the  tongue  is  capable  will  not  create  a  dollar 
of  income  in  any  commercial  pursuit ;  will  not  grow  a  blade 
of  grass,  win  a  battle,  or  fell  a  tree.  The  men  who  talk  about 
doing  things  are  well  enough  in  their  way,  as  Shakespeare 
intimates,  but  the  men  who  do  and  act  are  the  ones  whom  the 
world  most  delights  to  honor. 

When  a  man  is  found  who  displays  an  absorbing  enthusiasm 
in  his  business  he  may  as  well  at  once  be  accorded  the  laurels, 
for  he  is  bound  to  secure  them.  His  work  hours  are  never 
broken  in  upon  by  distracting  engagements,  while  his  play 
time  is  used  merely  as  a  means  for  recuperating  the  strength 
necessary  for  a  renewal  of  the  work  habit.  Frequently,  this 
absorption  in  business  matters  is  carried  to  an  extreme,  and 
while  the  extremist  may  profit  the  more  financially,  he  loses 
something  in  breadth  of  mind  and  in  physical  well-being. 
There  can  be  excess  in  work  as  in  eating  or  drinking,  and 
nature  is  certain  to  demand  the  penalty  sooner  or  later — 
usually  all  too  soon. 

A  gentleman  of  prominence  in  the  hardwood  lumber  trade 
of  the  North  and  South  who  commendably  exemplifies  a 
maximum  of  enthusiasm  in  the  promotion  of  his  lumber  busi- 
ness, combined  with  an  adequate  amount  of  recuperation,  is 

397 


398  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

Edmond  Fairfield  Dodge,  central  figure  in  the  P.  G.  Dodge 
Lumber  Company,  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Dodge  was  born  at  the 
old  Dodge  homestead  in  New  Lyme,  Ashtabula  County,  Ohio, 
November  30,  1866.  His  father,  the  late  Philo  G.  Dodge, 
was  born  in  the  same  house  November  18,  1840.  His  great- 
grandfather, Jeremiah  Dodge,  was  one  of  the  Connecticut 
pioneers  who  went  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  in  the 
early  part  of  1800  and  settled  in  what  was  then  known  as  the 
''Western  Reserve,"  comprising  about  a  dozen  counties  in  the 
northeastern  section  of  Ohio.  The  members  of  the  party  were 
mostly  from  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  hence  they  named  their 
new  settlement  New  Lyme.  The  Dodge  family  is  of  Puritan 
origin ;  and  while  the  American  branch  did  not  come  over  in 
the  Mayflower^  members  of  the  family  came  over  a  few  years 
afterward  and  were  prominent  in  the  government  and  up- 
building of  the  new  colony.  The  family  is  traced  back  to  1307, 
during  the  reign  of  Edward  I,  who  conferred  the  order  of 
knighthood  upon  a  distinguished  member  of  the  family  at  that 
day  and  which  was  regranted  to  another  member  of  the  family 
by  Henry  VIIL 

Philo  G.  Dodge  in  1864  married  Lovisa  L.  Jones,  daughter 
of  Silas  Jones,  of  Lenox,  Ashtabula  County,  Ohio.  Their  son 
and  only  child  was  less  than  a  year  old  when  the  family  moved 
to  Chicago  in  1867.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  P.  G.  Dodge 
started  a  hardwood  lumber  yard  at  Twelfth  and  Canal  streets, 
taking  as  a  partner  his  older  brother,  E.  J.  Dodge,  who  was 
previously  engaged  in  manufacturing  lumber  at  Ligonier, 
Indiana,  and  the  firm  name  was  E.  J.  Dodge  &  Bro.  Three 
years  later  P.  G.  Dodge  purchased  the  interest  of  his  brother, 
and  for  several  years  conducted  the  yard  under  his  individual 
name.  In  1876  the  yard  was  removed  to  Bunker  and  Canal 
streets  and  in  1878  to  Polk  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  where  the 
business  was  conducted  until  1886,  when  it  was  removed  to  its 
present  location,  21 16  Lumber  Street. 

Edmond  F.  Dodge  had  a  great  thirst  for  knowledge  when 
he  was  a  youth,  and  studied  with  the  same  enthusiasm  which 


EDMOND  F.  DODGE  399 

he  later  displayed  in  conducting  his  business.  He  attended 
the  public  schools  and  high  school,  leaving  in  1881  to  take  the 
preparatory  course  at  the  Chicago  University,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years.  He  then  went  to  Oberlin  College,  Ober- 
lin,  Ohio,  for  two  years.  In  1887  he  entered  Lake  Forest 
University,  Lake  Forest,  Illinois,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1891.  After  his  graduation  his  father  gave  him  a  one-third 
interest  in  the  lumber  firm.  In  the  fall  of  1891  he  began  the 
study  of  law  at  the  Northwestern  University,  but  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1892  necessitated  his  taking  his  father's  place  in 
the  lumber  business.  He  was  given  valuable  assistance  by  his 
uncle,  E.  J.  Dodge,  who  looked  after  the  buying  for  several 
years.  He  conducted  the  business  successfully  for  three  years, 
when  he  sold  practically  the  entire  stock  upon  the  yard  and 
went  into  the  wholesale  car  trade,  with  offices  in  the  Fisher 
Building,  but  continued  to  carry  a  small  stock  at  21 16  Lumber 
Street.  After  a  year  of  the  car  business  he  decided  that  a 
combination  of  the  wholesale  and  retail  trade  was  the  ideal 
method  of  handling  the  hardwood  lumber  trade  in  Chicago, 
and,  accordingly,  in  1896  he  moved  his  office  back  to  the  lum- 
ber district. 

The  business  flourished  greatly  from  that  time  on,  and  in 
1903  it  was  incorporated  as  the  P.  G.  Dodge  Lumber  Com- 
pany, with  a  paid-in  capital  of  $70,000  and  the  following  offi- 
cers: Edmond  F.  Dodge,  president  and  general  manager; 
Charles  A.  Marsh,  vice  president;  W.  Treese  Smith,  secretary 
and  treasurer.  In  September,  1905,  Mr.  Smith  sold  his  stock 
to  Charles  E.  Randall,  of  Chicago.  The  stock  was  afterward 
increased  to  $100,000  and  B.  F.  Bush  was  elected  vice  presi- 
dent and  Charles  E.  Randall,  secretary  and  treasurer.  The 
company  is  now  doing  a  business  of  $800,000  a  year,  and  its 
development  has  been  so  rapid  that  its  volume  of  trade  in  1906 
was  approximately  ten  times  as  great  as  it  was  in  1895.  When 
the  business  was  established  in  1867  Ohio  and  Indiana  hard- 
woods only  were  handled.  In  1883  northern  hardwoods  were 
introduced   and  a  specialty  made  of  maple,  birch  and  elm. 


400  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

About  1888  oak,  poplar  and  ash  from  the  Tennessee  River 
district  were  added. 

In  1894  P.  G.  Dodge  &  Co.  began  to  make  contracts  for 
complete  sawmill  cuts,  shipping  the  lumber  to  the  yard  in 
Chicago  and  from  thence  distributing  to  the  trade.  In  1904, 
while  still  doing  a  large  retail  business,  the  company  began  to 
devote  more  attention  to  the  shipment  of  carloads  direct  from 
mill  points,  which  business  has  so  increased  that  the  company 
is  now  shipping  in  direct  carload  lots  from  forty-three  different 
assembling  points  in  the  middle  South,  and  fully  two-thirds  of 
its  business  is  now  handled  direct  from  the  mills.  The  southern 
operations  are  in  charge  of  John  T.  Crane,  of  Dickson,  Ten- 
nessee, who  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  company.  He  has  ten 
men  under  him  engaged  in  inspecting  and  shipping.  Mr. 
Dodge  makes  a  trip  among  the  southern  points  of  distribution 
about  twice  a  month. 

Mr.  Dodge's  favorite  forms  of  recreation,  were,  formerly, 
tennis  and  golf  playing,  but  within  the  last  few  years  he  has 
given  more  attention  to  the  automobile.  He  brought  to 
Chicago  the  first  French  car  of  Decauville  make.  He  is  a 
Mason,  being  a  member  of  Kenwood  Lodge  No.  800,  Chicago 
Chapter  No.  127,  Chevalier  Bayard  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templar  No.  52,  of  which  he  is  Junior  Warden,  and  Oriental 
Consistory  of  the  Valley  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Dodge  joined  the 
Hoo-Hoo  in  1896.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Union  League 
Club,  the  new  South  Shore  Country  Club,  the  Colonial  Club 
and  the  Kenwood  Country  Club.  He  is  also  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Lake  Forest  University  Alumni  Association. 

Mr.  Dodge  married,  on  June  16,  1894,  Miss  Louise  Belle 
Baker,  daughter  of  Edward  B.  Baker,  a  former  prominent 
business  man  of  Chicago,  now  of  Paris,  France.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Dodge  have  two  children — Edmond  F.,  Junior,  born  in 
1898,  and  Dorothy,  born  in  1900. 


\  !^L 


Tl 


a  it  was  at 

the  gr(  )d  fo 

licago  at  that  time  and  to  have 
t  cd  that  market  through  all  its  changes  to  the  present 

time,  when  one  may  visit  the  Chicago  trade  and  purchase 
practically  any  wood  of  commercial  use. 

Thf  ry»^n  wh'>  have  iified 

I.  fact 

thv 

trade  as  has  A.^...- 

with  his  brother-in 

lumber  operator  of 

a  continiv   •'  period 

""^ain  iii  mt  same  ui  u 

^'dger  ^  1  m  * 


.  1 


I 

I 

.1 
went 

grandt 


5=1300  Aa 


-3V3«>-«^    ®*-' 


3HC1_»A 


AL-PHEUS    SHREVEi^BADQER 


Alpheus  S.  Badger 


The  lumber  market  of  Chicago  has  witnessed  many  changes 
in  the  last  thirty  years — not  merely  changes  in  personnel  and 
methods,  but  marked  alterations  in  the  woods  which  Chicago 
lumbermen  are  called  upon  to  handle.  Once  a  distinctively 
white  pine  market,  Chicago  has  become,  instead,  a  point  of 
distribution  for  the  woods  of  the  Gulf  and  the  Coast,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  forests  of  the  North.  It  was  the  good  fortune 
of  some  men  to  know  Chicago  when  it  was  at  the  height  of  its 
white  pine  glory,  and  it  has  been  the  greater  good  fortune  of 
some  men  to  have  known  Chicago  at  that  time  and  to  have 
followed  that  market  through  all  its  changes  to  the  present 
time,  when  one  may  visit  the  Chicago  trade  and  purchase 
practically  any  wood  of  commercial  use. 

The  men  who  have  kept  pace  with  the  more  diversified 
market  have  had  to  be  active  and  progressive,  and  the  fact 
that  they  have  followed  it  through  all  its  development  is  proof 
of  their  ability  and  devotion  to  the  industry.  Few  men  of  cor- 
responding age  have  had  so  extended  an  experience  in  the 
trade  as  has  Alpheus  Shreve  Badger,  of  Chicago.  Starting 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Turlington  W.  Harvey,  the  heaviest 
lumber  operator  of  that  day,  he  has  followed  the  business  for 
a  continuous  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  and  promises  to 
remain  in  the  same  line  of  trade  for  as  long  a  period  of  the 
future. 

Mr.  Badger  was  born  in  Chicago,  February  i6,  1862,  at 
which  time  the  family  residence  was  on  Michigan  Avenue,  be- 
tween Madison  and  Monroe  streets,  on  the  site  now  occupied 
by  the  Chicago  Athletic  Club.  The  Badger  family  is  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  Mr.  Badger's  father,  Alpheus  Camillus  Badger, 
went  to  Chicago  in  1861  from  Louisville,  Kentucky.  His 
grandfather,  Leonidas  Virgil  Badger,  of  Dover,  New  Hamp- 

401 


402  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

shire,  was  engaged  in  the  foundry  business  at  Portsmouth  in 
the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  and  to  him  is  assigned  the 
credit  of  having  made  some  of  the  first  iron  stoves  ever  used 
in  this  country.  When  Mr.  Badger's  father  was  sixteen 
years  old  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  growing  West. 
His  objective  point  was  Louisville,  Kentucky.  For  many  years 
he  was  engaged  in  the  banking  business  there,  but  the  Civil 
War  unsettled  commercial  matters  along  the  border  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  business  was  moved  to  Chicago. 

Mr.  Badger's  mother  was  Elvira  Cecilia  Sheridan,  daughter 
of  John  Joseph  Sheridan  and  Martha  Washington  (Moore) 
Sheridan,  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Sheridan  came 
from  London,  England,  and  was  of  the  family  of  Richard 
Brinsley  Sheridan,  the  distinguished  statesman  and  playwright. 
Mrs.  Sheridan  was  the  daughter  of  Stephen  W.  Moore  and 
Ann  (Bommer)  Moore,  a  famous  beauty  of;  her  day.  One  of 
the  heirlooms  of  the  Badger  family  is  an  embroidered  white 
silk  sash  that  was  worn  by  Ann  Bommer  when  she  danced  with 
General  George  Washington  at  a  ball  given  in  his  honor  dur- 
ing a  visit  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1790. 

Mr.  Badger's  ambition  to  start  upon  a  business  career  was 
gratified  when,  in  July,  1876,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  he 
entered  the  office  of  the  T.  W.  Harvey  Lumber  Company  as 
office  boy  at  the  extremely  moderate  salary  of  $4.50  a  week. 
He  worked  hard  and  faithfully  and  his  advancement  was  rapid, 
so  that  within  ten  years  he  was  promoted  to  the  positions  of 
manager  and  treasurer  of  the  seventy  retail  yards  operated  by 
the  company  in  Nebraska,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas  and  the 
Dakotas,  and  went  to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  where  western  head- 
quarters were  established.  There  he  remained  until  1890, 
when  he  returned  to  Chicago  and  started  in  business  on  his 
own  account,  doing  a  wholesale  trade  in  northern  white  pine 
and  also  operating  sawmills  at  several  points,  during  the  first 
year  shipping  30,000,000  feet  of  lumber  to  the  retail  trade,  with 
correspondingly  large  quantities  of  shingles  and  lath. 

In  1896  he  was  associated  with  Arthur  S.  Jackson  in  the 


ALPHEUS  S.  BADGER  403 

formation  of  the  Badger  &  Jackson  Company,  of  which  he 
was  president.  This  company  had  among  its  other  lumber 
resources  a  contract  to  handle  the  entire  output  of  the  mills  of 
the  Diamond  Match  Company,  at  Ontonagon,  Michigan,  and 
Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  which,  in  its  entirety,  mounted  into 
the  hundreds  of  millions  of  feet,  and  which  was  terminated 
only  by  the  exhaustion  of  the  Diamond  Match  Company's 
timber  supply  in  that  section  in  1905.  Aside  from  that  source 
of  supply,  however,  the  company  bought  cuts  of  various  mills 
in  northern  Wisconsin,  notably  at  Rhinelander,  where  large 
stocks  were  acquired  during  a  series  of  years. 

In  September,  1906,  Mr.  Badger  changed  the  style  of  the 
concern  to  the  Badger-Pomeroy  Company,  Mr.  Jackson  hav- 
ing retired  from  the  corporation  in  1905.  Mr.  Badger's 
present  associate  is  Eugene  C.  Pomeroy,  of  New  York  City. 
The  Badger-Pomeroy  Company  at  once  secured  valuable 
manufacturing  connections  in  both  the  South  and  West,  and, 
with  ample  capital  at  its  disposal,  started  out  in  its  new  field  of 
operation  with  all  the  prestige  of  a  successful  past  and  the  as- 
surance of  an  equally  prosperous  future. 

Mr.  Badger  married  Miss  Frances  Cowles,  daughter  of  the 
late  Judge  Samuel  Cowles,  of  San  Francisco,  California,  and 
niece  of  the  late  Alfred  Cowles,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune^  and 
of  the  late  Edwin  Cowles,  founder  of  the  Cleveland  (Ohio) 
Leader.  Three  children  have  been  born  of  this  union — Edwin 
Hunt  Badger,  born  in  1892;  Shreve  Cowles  Badger,  born  in 
1897,  and  Frances  Stewart  Badger,  born  in  1904. 

Mr.  Badger  rightfully  can  lay  claim  to  Chicago  as  his  abid- 
ing place  by  virtue  of  that  city  having  been  his  birthplace  and 
his  residence  during  a  period  of  thirty-six  years.  His  four 
years'  sojourn  in  Nebraska  made  the  only  break  in  this  interval 
until  1900,  when  he  erected  a  home  in  one  of  the  city's  most 
beautiful  northern  suburbs,  Kenilworth,  fifteen  miles  from  the 
city  and  lying  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  His  home 
is  of  colonial  design,  commodious  and  handsome  in  architec- 
tural effect,  and  is  surrounded  by  large  and  well-kept  grounds. 


404  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Calumet  Club,  at 
Twentieth  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue.  He  is  fond  of  his 
home  and  his  family  and  finds  in  them  all  the  diversion  and 
pleasure  which  most  men  seek  in  membership  in  popular 
clubs.  Shortly  after  his  removal  to  Kenilworth  he  aided  in 
the  organization  of  its  first  Protestant  Episcopal  congregation 
and  the  erection  of  its  church  edifice.  For  several  years  he 
served  as  a  church  official,  and  he  has  given  at  all  times  much 
material  aid  in  furthering  the  upbuilding  of  the  parish. 

Mr.  Badger's  ancestry  was  of  a  character  to  instill  in  him 
principles  of  patriotism,  and  none  can  lay  claim  to  greater  de- 
votion to  his  country.  Like  that  of  other  men  of  sense,  this 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  country  takes  the  form  of  a  keen 
interest  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs.  Mr.  Badger  has  never 
been  a  politician  or  participated  in  the  upbuilding  of  any 
political  creed  which  he  did  not  think  subject  to  criticism  and 
improvement.  His  activity  in  a  political  way  has  been  rather 
the  keen  interest  of  a  private  citizen  in  all  political  movements. 
He  has  never  been  a  candidate  for  office,  though  always  ag- 
gressive in  his  endeavors  to  see  that  the  public  offices  are 
properly  filled. 

It  is  fortunate  for  Mr.  Badger  that  he  has  seen  the  value  of 
first  selecting  his  life  work  and  then  giving  it  his  undivided 
attention.  His  experience  of  thirty  years  or  more  in  the  lum- 
ber industry — a  record  remarkable  for  a  man  of  his  age — has 
been  due  entirely  to  his  policy  of  continued  devotion  to  a 
single  business,  and  the  success  that  he  has  achieved  in  a  com- 
mercial way  has  been  due  entirely  to  this  same  close  attention 
to  the  particular  line  of  enterprise  to  which  he  dedicated  him- 
self early  in  life. 

One  may  look  in  vain  through  the  story  of  Mr.  Badger's 
career  for  evidence  that  his  increasing  prosperity  has  been  due 
to  any  fortuitous  accident  or  to  the  particular  assistance  of  any 
person  besides  himself.  While  actuated  by  purely  commercial 
motives,  his  devotion  to  his  chosen  work  has  been  sincere  and 
his  success,  therefore,  deserved. 


w 


r  of  : 

IS  as  his   t.  n, 

"'^  h  and  made  for 

civic  influence, 

uion  that  will 

norous  is  best 

the  president 

w  Mills,  >rgia,  and  also 

of  the  Saw  vjiUs,  of  Fivay  '    re  generally 

he  is  known  as  a  er  in  the  e  ow  pine  to 

theWr  rnf!  the  South. 

"  ms—that  of 

^nd   on   his 

'^e  Irish. 

his 

nily, 

^  oiiii  ircuna.     Mathias 

chat  made  frequent 
ie  trips  he  touched  at 
J  met  Miss  Sawney  Mc- 
in  Georgia  some  years 
■ship  and  a  happy  mar- 
band  closed  out  hit 


:r 
hit 

n- 

rc 
d 


.1    rr 


^ 


MARTIN     FORD    AMOROUS 


Martin  F.  Amorous 


So  much  as  any  one  quality  is  responsible  for  a  man's  suc- 
cess, diligence,  which  is  a  combination  of  energy  and  enthus- 
iasm, has  been  the  keynote  of  the  career  of  Martin  Ford 
Amorous,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia.  With  this  as  his  talisman, 
Mr.  Amorous  won  in  the  struggles  of  youth  and  made  for 
himself  a  place  of  commercial  importance  and  civic  influence, 
acquiring  in  the  meantime  a  fortune  and  a  reputation  that  will 
survive  when  his  work  is  finished.  Martin  Amorous  is  best 
known  to  the  world  of  industrial  enterprise  as  the  president 
of  the  Union-Pinopolis  Saw  Mills,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  also 
of  the  Aripeka  Saw  Mills,  of  Fivay,  Florida.  More  generally 
he  is  known  as  a  pioneer  in  the  exportation  of  yellow  pine  to 
the  West  and  a  great  organizer  of  lumber  interests  in  the  South. 

The  blood  of  two  nations  is  blended  in  his  veins — that  of 
the  proud,  keen  Spaniard  on  his  father's  side,  and  on  his 
mother's  the  energy  and  constructive  imagination  of  the  Irish. 
His  father  was  Mathias  Amorous,  of  Barcelona,  Spain ;  his 
mother  a  direct  descendant  of  the  renowned  McDonald  family, 
whose  names  are  illustrious  in  the  history  of  Ireland.  Mathias 
Amorous  was  captain  of  a  merchantman  that  made  frequent 
voyages  to  America.  On  one  of  these  trips  he  touched  at 
Savannah,  Georgia,  and  while  there  met  Miss  Sawney  Mc- 
Donald, whose  parents  had  settled  in  Georgia  some  years 
before.  There  followed  a  brief  courtship  and  a  happy  mar- 
riage. Shortly  afterward  the  young  husband  closed  out  his 
business  in  Spain  and  settled  in  the  adopted  land  of  his  wife. 

Their  first  child,  Martin  Ford  Amorous,  was  born  October 
23,  1858.  Scarcely  had  he  passed  his  fourth  year  when  his 
father  died,  leaving  him  and  his  mother  in  moderate  circum- 
stances. Young  Martin  attended  the  public  and  private 
schools  of  Savannah  until  the  age  of  seventeen,  when  he  found 


405 


4o6  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

it  necessary  to  begin  work  for  his  own  and  his  mother's  sup- 
port. During  the  school  days  of  his  youth  the  boy's  unusual 
alertness  in  his  studies  attracted  the  notice  of  J.  H.  Grimsley, 
a  lumberman  of  Eastman,  Georgia,  and  when  Martin  was  cast- 
ing about  for  employment  it  was  but  natural  that  he  should 
find  it  with  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Grimsley.  Whatever  there  was 
to  be  done  about  a  sawmill  he  did.  He  rolled  logs,  drove  a  log 
team,  shoveled  sawdust,  had  charge  of  the  commissary  and 
familiarized  himself  with  every  detail  of  the  industry.  When 
Anthony  Murphey,  proprietor  of  a  large  retail  lumber  yard 
and  planing  mill  in  Atlanta,  needed  a  confidental  clerk  he  en- 
gaged Martin  Amorous,  the  young  man  remaining  with  Mr. 
Murphey  for  five  years. 

In  1882  he  entered  the  lumber  brokerage  business,  acting 
as  sales  agent  for  a  number  of  sawmills.  It  was  at  that  time, 
when  he  was  only  twenty-four  years  old,  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  shipping  yellow  pine  to  the  West.  To  this  idea  and  to 
his  subsequent  efforts,  the  great  line  of  trade  now  open  to 
southern  lumbermen  is  primarily  due. 

Pursuant  to  this  plan,  which  had  grown  with  the  years,  Mr. 
Amorous  in  1885  organized  the  Atlanta  Lumber  Company, 
interesting  in  its  stock  several  owners  of  large  sawmills  and  in- 
ducing them  to  erect  dry  kilns  and  planing  mills  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preparing  boards  for  sale  in  the  West.  From  the 
outset  the  Atlanta  Lumber  Company  was  a  success.  Shortly 
after  that  he  acquired  an  interest  in  several  sawmills,  the  entire 
output  of  which  he  handled.  Among  them  were  the  Amos- 
keag  Lumber  Company,  that  being  the  first,  and  later  on,  the 
merged  interests  of  the  Amoskeag  company  and  the  Pinopolis 
Saw  Mill  Company,  of  Colquitt  County,  Georgia.  Of  that 
firm  Mr.  Amorous  was  made  the  active  manager  and  after- 
wards its  president.  In  May,  1902,  the  stockholders  sold  out 
their  business  and  Mr.  Amorous  himself,  having  an  ample  in- 
come, retired  to  the  quietude  of  home  life. 

The  talents  of  so  able  a  manager,  however,  were  not  to 
remain  passive.     Just  seven  months  after  his  retirement  he  was 


MARTIN  F.  AMOROUS  407 

induced  to  reenter  the  business  as  president  of  the  Union- 
Pinopolis  Saw  Mills,  a  company  which  was  a  combination  of 
four  independent  enterprises.  In  addition  to  his  connection 
with  that  company,  Mr.  Amorous  is  interested  in  the  Aripeka 
Saw  Mills,  of  Fivay,  Florida,  which  company  was  organized 
by  himself,  H.  M.  Atkinson  and  P.  S.  Arkwright,  all  capitalists 
of  Atlanta.  This  concern  owns  over  250,000  acres  of  timber 
land  in  Hernando,  Pasco  and  Hillsboro  counties,  on  the  west 
coast  of  Florida,  and  also  possesses  considerable  property  in 
railroads  and  sawmills. 

Mr.  Amorous  has  found  time  to  take  an  active  part  in  his 
city's  political  life.  During  1888  and  1889,  and  also  1903  and 
1904,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Atlanta  City  Council.  During 
his  first  term  he  was  the  youngest  councilman  whom  the  people 
of  Atlanta  had  ever  chosen  up  to  that  time  to  look  after  their 
interests.  As  a  councilman,  Mr.  Amorous  promoted  the  first 
electric  light  company  in  Atlanta,  and  was  also  the  author  of 
the  saloon  regulations  which  fixed  the  liquor  license  at  $1,000 
and  made  ten  o'clock  the  hour  for  closing  saloons.  In  1888 
he  was  made  chairman  of  the  police  committee  of  the  council, 
in  which  capacity  he  pushed  to  successful  conclusion  an  ordi- 
nance circumscribing  the  city's  liquor  limits.  His  work  in  this 
particular  attracted  widespread  attention  and  was  the  subject 
of  a  most  complimentary  review  by  Mayor  Hewitt,  of  New 
York  City. 

In  November,  1904,  during  his  second  term  as  a  council- 
man, Mr.  Amorous  acted  as  arbitrator  between  the  Atlantic 
Freight  Bureau  and  the  railroads  that  enter  Atlanta,  between 
which  a  bitter  dispute  had  arisen  over  a  question  of  freight 
rates.  In  a  short  time  he  had  brought  the  two  to  an  under- 
standing and  good  feeling  was  restored.  For  this  service  the 
city  council  presented  him  with  resolutions  of  thanks  inscribed 
on  parchment. 

The  purchase  of  185  acres  in  north  Atlanta,  which  has 
since  been  formed  into  Piedmont  Park,  handsome  exposition 
grounds,  was  largely  the  work  of  Martin  F.  Amorous,  who, 


4o8  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

with  other  citizens  of  Atlanta,  furnished  $98,000,  purchased 
the  land  and  relied  upon  the  city  for  repayment.  As  presi- 
dent of  the  Atlanta  Street  Railway  Company,  until  its  consoli- 
dation with  competing  lines  into  the  Georgia  Railway  & 
Electric  Company,  Martin  Amorous  made  a  record  of  one  of 
the  most  satisfactory  administrations,  both  to  the  company  and 
to  the  public,  that  has  ever  been  known. 

If  diligence  may  be  called  the  keynote  of  Mr.  Amorous' 
business  life  and  enterprise  that  of  his  civic  career,^;broad  sym- 
pathy and  congeniality  are  the  terms  which  describe  his  social 
side.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Capital  City  Club,  the  Piedmont 
Driving  Club,  the  Atlanta  Athletic  Club  and  the  Transporta- 
tion Club.  He  is  on  the  official  staff  of  Governor  Joseph  M. 
Terrell  with  the  title  of  "  Colonel."  No  man  in  the  State  has 
a  warmer  handshake  or  a  wider  acquaintance. 

Mr.^Amorous  married  in  November,  1887,  in  his  thirtieth 
year,  Miss  Emma  Kate  Williams,  of  Montgomery,  Alabama. 
Of  this  marriage  seven  children  were  born — Clinton,  sixteen 
years  old;  Emma  Kape,  thirteen;  Martin  Amorous,  Junior, 
nine;  Isabel,  eight;  Roselyn,  six;  Janice,  four,  and  William, 
two.  The  death  of  Mrs.  Amorous  in  the  early  spring  of  1906 
has  been  the  deepest  sorrow  of  the  husband's  life.  Their 
devotion  was  a  perpetual  romance. 

When  viewed  as  an  entirety,  the  life  of  Martin  Amorous  is 
singularly  broad  and  composite.  With  all  his  devotion  to  duty, 
he  has  a  keen,  even  hearty  zest  for  life  itself  and  appears  to 
enjoy  every  hour  of  existence.  He  is  active  in  business, 
cordial  among  his  friends  and  eager  for  the  upbuilding  of  his 
city  and  the  South. 


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posn  the  army,  in  the  national  guard  and  in  the  great 

enterprises        '  -ies  of  the  c  /.     In  direct  line  of 

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\A/II_L.IAM     B.    STIL.L.WE:L.I_ 


William  B.  Stillwell 


A  lumberman  of  note,  a  prince  of  good  fellows  and,  above 
all,  a  man  among  men — neither  spoiled  by  the  smiles  nor  dis- 
mayed by  the  frowns  of  the  fickle  Goddess  of  Fortune,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  stands  today  a  forceful  factor  in  the  lum- 
ber trade,  the  delight  of  a  host  of  friends  and  a  worthy  ex- 
ponent of  American  manhood. 

Nicholas  Stillwell,  the  first  of  the  name  to  land  in  America, 
brought  to  the  aid  of  the  infant  colonies  an  iron  will  and  mighty 
arm,  and  his  descendants,  settling  North,  South,  East  and 
West,  have  won  enviable  distinction  in  the  pursuits  of  peace  as 
well  as  in  the  arts  of  war — many  today  occupying  prominent 
positions  in  the  army,  in  the  national  guard  and  in  the  great 
enterprises  and  industries  of  the  country.  In  direct  line  of 
descent  from  Nicholas  and  from  his  grandson,  Major  Thomas 
Stillwell,  and  his  great  grandson,  John  Stillwell,  who  won  dis- 
tinction during  the  Revolution,  came  Charles  H.  Stillwell, 
who,  in  addition  to  the  spirit  of  his  forefathers,  was  fortunate 
enough  to  inherit  from  his  mother,  a  Huguenot  of  the  South 
Carolina  Colony,  the  spirit  which  animated  the  French 
martyrs. 

To  him,  though  always  beset  by  difficulties  and  adversity 
and  though  twice  made  a  cripple — the  last  time  for  life — the 
State  of  Georgia  is  indebted  for  nine  sons  and  one  daughter, 
who  have  worthily  illustrated  in  their  various  vocations  the  in- 
domitable energy,  peerless  courage  and  Christian  faith  which 
characterized  their  sire. 

William,  one  of  the  sons  thus  endowed,  though  starting 
without  a  dollar  amid  the  confusion  which  follows  in  the  wake 
of  civil  strife,  has  won  both  means  and  position,  even  in  a 
business  which  requires  as  much  capital  and  individual  effort 
for  its  successful  prosecution  as  does  the  lumber  trade. 

409 


410  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

He  was  born  in  Rome,  Georgia,  March  ii,  185 1,  and  his 
name  is  not  quite  half  way  down  the  official  register  of  family 
births  which  must  have  overflowed  the  record  pages  in  the  old 
family  Bible,  for  there  were  sixteen  children.  At  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  ten  of  these  were  still  living— nine  boys  and  one 
girl— four  boys  older  than  William  having  seen  service  under 
the  Confederate  flag. 

The  family,  which  during  the  war  had  ''refugeed"  pretty 
much  all  over  the  State,  moved  back  to  Rome  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  William  got  his  first  experience  in  sawmill  oper- 
ations in  an  upright  saw  water  mill  operated  by  his  father, 
whom  he  assisted  as  yardman  and  general  utility  man.  In 
February,  1866,  he  entered  the  employ  of  Millen  &  Wadley, 
at  Savannah,  Georgia,  which  afterward  became  Millen,  Wad- 
ley  &  Co.,  by  the  admission  of  D.  C.  Bacon  as  junior  partner. 
In  1876  Messrs.  Bacon  and  Stillwell  formed  the  firm  of 
D.  C.  Bacon  &  Co.,  H.  P.  Smart  being  afterward  admitted  to 
the  firm.  The  firm  formed  and  operated  a  number  of  other 
companies,  including  the  Vale  Royal  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, the  Atlanta  Lumber  Company,  Central  Georgia  Lum- 
ber Company,  Screven  County  Lumber  Company,  andAmos- 
keag  Lumber  Company,  Mr.  Stillwell  being  for  several  years 
president  of  the  last  named  company,  as  well  as  an  officer  in 
all  of  the  others. 

While  with  this  firm  Mr.  Stillwell  served  also  as  director 
of  the  Savannah  Board  of  Trade  for  several  years,  and  for  two 
years  was  its  vice  president ;  he  was  for  several  years  a  director 
and  vice  president  of  the  Citizens'  Bank,  a  member  of  the 
cotton  exchange  and  a  director  in  the  Savannah  Construction 
Company,  which  built  the  road  from  Columbia  to  Savannah, 
afterwards  operated  by  the  Florida  Central  &  Peninsular  Rail- 
road, and  now  part  of  the  Seaboard  Air  Line. 

In  1887  the  firm  of  D.  C.  Bacon  &  Co.  was  dissolved  and 
the  firm  of  Stillwell,  Millen  &  Co.  was  established,  with  head- 
quarters at  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  L.  R.  Millen  &  Co.,  of 
New  York  City,  consisting  of  W.   B.  Stillwell,   Loring  R. 


WILLIAM  B.  STILLWELL  411 

Millen  and  L.Johnson,  and  R.  H.  and  W.  R.  Bewick  were 
admitted  several  years  later.  The  firm  owned  and  operated 
the  Screven  County  Lumber  Company,  Central  Georgia  Lum- 
ber Company,  and  Augusta  Lumber  Company,  and  built  and 
operated  the  Waycross  Air  Line  Railroad,  now  the  Atlanta, 
Birmingham  &  Atlantic,  and  the  Millen  &  Southern  Rail- 
road, now  the  Millen  &  South-western.  In  all  these  compan- 
ies Mr.  Stillwell  held  official  positions  and,  in  addition,  was 
president  of  the  Waycross  Lumber  Company.  In  1895  the 
lumber  businesses  of  Stillwell,  Millen  &  Co.,  L.  R.  Millen  & 
Co.,  McDonough  &  Co.,  the  James  K.  Clarke  Lumber  Com- 
pany, Henry  P.  Talmadge,  and  C.  C.  Southard  were  consoli- 
dated into  the  Southern  Pine  Company  of  Georgia,  of  which 
Mr.  Stillwell  became  secretary  and  treasurer,  which  position 
he  still  holds.  He  is  also  director  of  the  purchasing  and  ship- 
ping department. 

So  much  for  the  business  career,  but  this  sketch  would  be 
incomplete  without  some  reference  to  other  lines  in  which 
Mr.  Stillwell  has  been  preeminent,  and  to  the  social  side  of  his 
nature,  as  well. 

In  1875  Mr.  Stillwell  was  united  in  marriage  with  Mary 
Reily  Royall,  of  the  well-known  CaroHna  family  of  that  name. 
Of  this  union  there  have  been  born  three  daughters — Edith 
(now  Mrs.  W.  F.  Train),  Mamie  R.  and  Laleah  P.,  and  three 
sons— William  H.,  Herbert  L.  and  Walter  B.,  who,  with  their 
mother  and  father,  constitute  an  unbroken  family  circle. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Stillwell  joined  the  Baptist  Church,  of 
which  he  has  ever  since  been  a  regular  attendant.  He  holds 
membership  in  many  social  and  fraternal  orders,  among  which 
are  the  Masons,  Knights  Templar,  the  Mystic  Shrine,  Elks 
and  Hoo-Hoo.  In  mihtary  circles  he  is  also  well  known,  hav- 
ing served  as  an  active  member  for  twenty  years  in  the 
Chatham  Artillery,  and  being  now  an  honorary  member  of 
that  historic  corps.  He  is  also  a  life  member  of  the  Savannah 
Volunteer  Guards  and  a  pay  member  of  the  Savannah  Cadets. 

As  early  as  the  '70's  Mr.   Stillwell  was  a  moving  spirit  in 


412  AMERICAN  LUMBERMEN 

organizing  lumbermen  on  lines  tending  towards  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  business  interests  and  the  promotion  of  good  fel- 
lowship and  social  intercourse.  In  1879  ^^  was  active  in  the 
formation  of  the  Southern  Lumber  and  Timber  Association, 
and  was  its  secretary  when  it  gave  to  the  lumber  world  its 
classification  and  inspection  rules  of  1883,  which  have  ever 
since  been  the  basis  of  the  operation  of  the  southeastern  yel- 
low pine  and  cypress  trade.  Later,  he  was  a  useful  member 
and  has  been  now  for  two  years  vice  president  of  the  Georgia 
Interstate  Saw  Mill  Association,  and  is  also  a  director  in  the 
Southern  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association. 

The  Material  Men's  Association  of  Georgia  owed  its  exist- 
ence largely  to  his  efforts,  and,  during  his  incumbency  as  its 
first  president,  an  important  amendment  to  the  lien  laws  of 
Georgia  was  made  and  is  still  in  force.  From  its  inception 
the  National  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association,  which  is 
destined  to  accomplish  much  for  the  lumber  trade,  has  been 
the  object  of  his  zeal  and  of  his  untiring  efforts.  He  has  been 
the  chairman  of  its  transportation  committee  and  now  repre- 
sents the  Georgia  Interstate  Saw  Mill  Association  as  its  mem- 
ber on  the  board  of  governors. 

It  is,  however,  as  a  Hoo-Hoo  that  Mr.  Stillwell  became 
most  widely  known  to  the  lumbermen  of  recent  years,  his  zeal 
and  untiring  work  for  that  order,  together  with  his  personal 
popularity,  having  won  for  him  four  years  ago  the  highest 
position  within  its  gift.  How  well  he  filled  the  office  of  snark 
of  the  universe  contemporary  criticism  fully  testified. 

The  Savannah  Board  of  Trade  has  had  no  more  devoted 
member  than  Mr.  Stillwell,  and  testified  its  appreciation  by 
electing  him  its  president  in  1906. 

Through  these  various  channels  and  the  medium  of  an  ex- 
tensive and  thriving  business  Mr.  Stillwell  is  well  and  favor- 
ably known  to  the  lumbermen  and  business  communities  of 
the  entire  United  States.  But  after  all,  it  is  when,  man  to 
man,  the  heart's  fires  are  focused  that  the  true  metal  or  the 
dross  is  most  clearly  revealed,  and  the  highest  tribute  that  can 


WILLIAM  B.  STILLWELL 


413 


be  paid  to  a  man — as  it  can  to  Mr.  Stillwell — is  to  say  that 
his  Hfe  as  it  is  known  in  his  home,  as  well  as  to  the  outermost 
circle  of  individual  friendship,  shows  but  pure  gold.  Never 
too  absorbed  in  business  or  so  taken  up  by  the  attractions  of 
social  life  as  to  be  unmindful  of  the  claims  of  a  loved  one  or 
of  a  friend,  the  crown  of  his  achievements  is,  and  ever  will  be, 
the  high  place  he  holds  in  the  hearts  of  those  whose  affection 
and  regard  he  has  won  by  his  bright,  unselfish  nature. 


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